I Declare War!
by shadrougeforever
Summary: After an assault against their headquarters, the Chaotix team goes through a difficult and devastating travesty. While trying to cope with their losses, the team faces new threats and relationships are put to the test. Shadow now steps up to take on the role as their new leader and struggles with the new responsibilities of being a husband and a compassionate role model. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

It was a peaceful and bright sunny morning in Metal City. The streets were surprisingly pretty quiet with the exception of the usual weekly busy traffic and people going to and from their jobs.

Even at the Silver Fangs detective headquarters, it was quiet and calm.

A black coyote woman who appeared in her early twenties stared out of the window from the lobby in boredom. She sighed tiredly and looked away from the window. She looked across the room and saw a red fox woman sitting at a desk and writing in a notebook.

The fox woman had appeared to be older than her. She had short wavy black hair and she dressed in a goth kind of style. She glanced at the corner of her eye and saw the coyote giving her a pitiful look. She looked away and pretended that she never looked in her direction. Unfortunate for her, she saw her walking over to her desk. When she had looked back at up, the coyote woman was right in front of her desk giving her the same pitiful look.

The coyote girl whined, "Jess, I'm bored!"

The red fox gave her an irritated look as a response. "It's a slow day. What do you want me to do about it?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know! Entertain me!"

Aggravated, Jessica slammed the notebook she was writing in shut. "Don't you have work to do, Kuroi?"

"No way! I'm caught up with everything so I'm completely bored out of my mind."

Jessica sighed as she had gotten more and more irritated with her, "You must mean you're just out of your mind right?"

Kuroi crossed her arms as she noticed that Jessica had a bitter attitude towards her. "What crawled up your butt this morning? Is it Sky? You having boyfriend problems?" She teased.

With Kuroi mentioning her boyfriend's name, Jessica's face turned cherry red, "Shut up, Kuroi! Sky and I are doing just fine!"

She saw how annoyed Jessica was getting but she couldn't help but to tease her even more. "Uh huh. Sure."

"I'm warning you, Kuroi!" When she stood up from the desk, she saw the rest of her teammates enter the lobby including her boyfriend, Sky.

A white male wolf who looked like he was in his early forties glared at the two picking on one another. He dressed in a more professional manner unlike the rest of his teammates. He wore black suit along with black dress shoes. "Come on you two. Knock it off."

"Yeah", a white male bat added while he stood beside the wolf. "You're not acting very professional."

Jessica couldn't help but to blush in embarrassment at the sight of the male bat.

Sky was a snow white vampire bat with his messy yet spiky hair to match. His red eyes seemed menacing but also calming. He wore a light blue jacket, black fitted jeans, dark blue shoes and blue goggles on his head. He appeared to be in his late twenties.

"You girls always gotta start some kind of crap with each other", a brown male mongoose spoke. The mongoose had black short hair. He wore a gray hoodie, black shorts, and brown boots.

"Girl drama", a brown male owl added while he stood beside the mongoose. The owl had appeared to be a cool and calm character. His hair was short and brown. He wore a yellow and black jacket, black fitted jeans, and gray shoes.

"Hey it's not my fault!" Kuroi pointed at the red fox. "Jess is acting like a total spazz."

Jessica remained silent but gave her an annoyed look. She began to calm down when the white male bat stood next to her and softly kissed her cheek .

He rubbed his hand across her back and softly spoke to her, "You're a spazz, but you're my spazz."

With the way he spoke to her, she felt like her body was melting and her face was covered in the shade of red again. She leaned against his body and nuzzled into his chest lovingly. "Oh, Sky."

Kuroi rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she witnessed the two flirting with each other. "Gag me", she spoke in a bitter tone.

"Okay, guys", the wolf spoke. "That's enough. We have work to do."

Before anyone could move, a strong and violent unseen force had suddenly blew within the lobby. Papers had flown all around the room.

Kuroi had gotten frightened from the strange phenomenon. She looked over to the mongoose who also looked worried. "Ace!"

The mongoose held out his arms towards the frightened coyote. "Kuroi!" He watched her quickly run into his arms and embrace him for comfort.

Every light that hung from the ceiling had broken making the glass shatter all over the floor.

The wolf looked around the room to see what was causing all of the destruction. "What the hell is going on?"

The brown owl had a feeling that something horrible was wrong. "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

Suddenly, they all saw a black aura appear in the center of the lobby. Their eyes widened when they saw a strange black creature standing in front of them.

The creature had long sharp claws, sharp fangs, horns on his head, menacing red eyes, transparent wings, and a long tail.

Ace's mouth hung open at the sight of the mysterious figure. "What is that, Zeak?"

Practically speechless, the owl slowly shook his head, "I don't know." His eyes shifted over to the white wolf who had his eyes fixed on the creature standing in front of them. "…Kiba?"

The dark creature let out a menacing chuckle, "Well, well, looks like we finally meet face to face, detectives. I've heard a great deal about you."

"What?" Sky spoke out in confusion. "Who are you and what are you talking about?"

The creature's red eyes shifted over to Sky. "I've especially heard about you, Sky. You're related to the guns girl am I right?"

The white bat's eyes widened in surprise that he had knew of his relation to Rouge, his cousin who worked for the Chaotix Detective Agency "…You…you know of my sister?"

The creature made a small nod.

"Who are you?" Kiba had demanded.

An evil smirk formed on the creature's lips as he began to introduce himself. "My name is Dark Demon. Perhaps you've heard of me."

The entire room was suddenly filled with horrific gasps.

"I've heard of you", Jessica spoke. "You're some kind of big bad demon lord."

"De-Demon lord?" Ace stammered nervously. "What do you want with us?"

Zeak held up his fists towards the demon, "You looking for a fight?"

The demon shook his head, "No I just want to talk."

Kiba didn't trust the mysterious demon at all but he was curious to know what he had wanted to talk about. "…About what?"

"About you…and the Chaotix."

Kiba's eyes widened in surprise that Dark would mention the Chaotix detectives. "…The Chaotix?"

He made a small nod, "Indeed. They are not your ally."

"That's not true. We made a truce."

"You're blind, Kiba. They are all not who they seem. Especially Vector. He's lied to you."

Kiba and the rest of the detectives stood there in shock, listening to what Dark had to say to them.

Dark continued, "Do you really think Vector and the rest of the those detectives would forgive you so easily for practically beating them to a bloody death?"

Kiba bit his lip as he remembered back when he and his team had battled against the Chaotix for the first time.

"Vector will never forget the pain and suffering you all caused him and his team. He will plot against you. He and the rest of the Chaotix know that they're stronger and better than all of you. After all, two demons, and an artificial life form is on their side. What do you have exactly? A vampire?

Sky sent a cold glare over at the demon. He was taken by surprise that Dark knew so much about him and the rest of his teammates.

"So what?" Kiba snarled, "They have some freak shows on their side. It doesn't mean…"

"They're making fools out of you?" Dark had finished.

Kiba's eyes wandered down to the floor. "Vector wouldn't want us to fight. He's not like that. He's always been a peaceful man."

"Open your eyes, Kiba! He's not the same man you grew up with. You threatened his teammates...his family! I promise you, he will do everything in his power to take you out!"

The worried detectives looked over to Kiba who appeared to be listening to Dark's persuasions.

"Are you going to let those detectives make you all look second rate? Or are you going to do something about it?"

As Kiba thought more and more about it, he had then felt the same violet unseen force blow around the room. As he stood there, he felt somewhat lightheaded and couldn't manage to focus.

The rest of the detectives had felt the same sensation. Something was in the air. Something dark.

Kiba slowly looked back up to where Dark was standing and saw that he had suddenly vanished.

When everything had stopped blowing around the room, Sky looked around and saw all of the papers scattered on the floor. He looked over to Kiba who appeared to be lost in his thoughts. At first he hesitated to ask what was on his mind. "Kiba", he called. "What do we do?"

The wolf continued to stare down at the floor along with his fists shaking.

Author's Note: What's good? I'm back yet again and just in time for the holidays! It's been awhile but I have been busy brainstorming new ideas and getting started on some new story ideas! I hope that you all will enjoy this fic and look forward to more upcoming chapters! Thanks, guys for being patient with me! You all rule!

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Vector: I could've never made it this far without you, guys.**

**Shadow: I've done nothing special…**

**Vector: You'll make a great leader someday…**

**Shadow: Vector…**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Much later on in the morning, the lobby door at the Chaotix Detective Agency swung open.

An orange echidna girl who appeared to be at the age of eighteen had stood in front of the group of the detectives who were pacing around the room in a hurry due to another busy morning. She greeted them all with a warm and friendly smile. "Good morning, everyone!"

The group of detectives froze for a split second and laid their eyes upon the echidna woman.

Her smile was as wide and bright as her personality. She wore jewelry that looked tribal like. However, her clothes were very modern and business styled. She had on green blazer with a white collared shirt underneath it, a mini skirt to match her blazer, and black high heeled shoes.

A purple cat woman who sat behind a desk glanced around at the other detectives and figured that they were not in the best of mood at the moment. She decided to be the first to greet her. "Good morning, Tikal!" The cat woman had on a red headband that supported her short purple hair that matched her fur. She wore a long sleeve collared shirt, a purple skirt that stopped at her ankles, and brown combat boots.

After when the cat woman had spoke back to her, everyone else decided to speak as well.

A yellow and black bee boy who appeared to be around the age of eighteen, formed a wide smile back at the echidna. "Good morning!" The bee had appeared much younger because of his size and childish personality. He wore an orange sleeveless vest with a black t shirt underneath, blue shorts, and his shoes were orange, yellow, and white. He also wore a black helmet with goggles on top of them.

The echidna looked over at the bee who had sat down on the surface of the cat woman's desk. She also saw a male purple chameleon lean against the opposite side of the desk.

The purple chameleon had on a sleeveless blue vest, blue denim jeans, and wore purple and black shoes.

Tikal decided to approach the group of detectives.

The purple chameleon crossed his arms and smirked towards Tikal. "Welcome to the madhouse."

She couldn't help but to make a small smile from the chameleon's comment. "Another busy morning, Espio?"

The purple cat had answered before Espio did. "It's pretty steady actually. Vector just decided to load everyone up with extra tasks."

Tikal glanced back at the other detectives passing around the room. She saw a black male wolf with red hair that slightly passed his shoulders. He appeared to be in his early thirties. He was talking to someone who appeared to be a human man.

The man who appeared to be a human had snow white skin. His white hair was long enough to just pass his shoulders. He wore a long black cloak, black pants, and black knee high boots. He looked like he was in his early twenties.

Tikal continued to look around the room and saw a white female bat woman and a red male porcupine looking at diagrams of different guns and other strange weapons. She took her eyes away from the other detectives in the room when the bee had spoken.

"Yeah", the bee spoke. "Since we have so much extra help, it won't be like it was back in the day when it was only the six of us busting our asses."

The cat woman gave him a doubtful look. "What are you talking about, Charmy?"

A sweat drop had formed on the side of Espio's head. "There's now nine of us and it looks like we're still busting ass to me."

Charmy gave the two a bitter look. "You guys are such downers." His eyes shifted over to the chameleon. "Especially you, Espio."

Espio gave the bee a look of disbelief. "Wha? I'm not a downer!" He looked over to the cat woman. "Tonya, I'm not a downer…am I?"

The cat woman couldn't make direct eye contact with him when he turned to her for an answer. "Well…um…"

The chameleon grew more and more impatient with getting an answer from her. "Babe?"

Tonya couldn't help but to tease the anxious chameleon. A smile formed on her lips as she remembered how the two first met and she wanted nothing to do with him as a love interest. Just months ago, she finally gave in and began to go out with him.

The group was interrupted when the white bat woman walked over to them.

"Well", she spoke. "You can be sometimes."

Espio frowned at the bat woman, "Who asked you, Rouge?"

The bat woman giggled as she teased Espio. Rouge was a snow white fruit bat. She was the gunswoman of the team and handled all of the weaponry. She wore a purple long sleeve top that revealed her massive cleavage, fitted purple pants, and knee high purple boots.

The annoyed chameleon crossed his arms as Rouge teased him. "You have the nerve, bat girl. I'm nowhere near as depressing as your grumpy boyfriend."

Before Rouge could speak, a calm male voice had spoken up.

"Come on now, guys."

The group turned to their teammate Ker, who took the appearance of a human man but was also a full fledge demon.

Even though there were no humans left on Mobius, Ker was the closest to human any Mobian had ever seen. "Let's not talk bad about Shadow."

The male porcupine had joined the group along with a black wolf by his side. "Ker's right you know? We shouldn't talk behind Shadow's back", he spoke in a sarcastic tone. The red porcupine wore silver goggles with yellow lenses in them on the top of his head. He had extremely long and sharp quills. He wore a sleeveless yellow vest with a blue t shirt underneath, blue denim shorts, and yellow and white shoes. He formed a sly look, "It's best if we talk shit about him to his face."

A nervous sweat drop appeared on the side of the wolf's head. The black wolf had spiked red hair and wore a gray jacket with a dark blue t shirt underneath, black fitted pants, and gray military styled boots. "That doesn't exactly make things better, Appex."

A sly smirk formed on the porcupine's lips, "But what fun would that be huh, Midnight?"

"Speaking of which, I've barely seen the captain all morning", the bee spoke while he glanced around the lobby.

"Well, Rouge?" Espio spoke, "You should know where he's been hiding."

Rouge pointed to herself with a blank expression on her face, "What? Just cause we're dating, it doesn't mean we know where each other are around the clock!"

"Shadow had been in Vector's office for most of the morning", Ker had spoke. "Knowing those two, they're probably sorting through mountains of paperwork."

Appex shook his head slightly, "I swear I see that hedgehog do more paperwork than actual detective work."

When Appex had walked away to finish his tasks, Rouge couldn't help but to crack a smile from his comment. Even she had to admit to herself that Shadow was a total slave when it came to finishing paperwork.

Meanwhile in Vector's office, a male green crocodile was sitting at his desk trying to sort all of the papers that were scattered all over the desk. The crocodile had headphones set around his neck even though he wasn't listening to any music. He wore an orange sleeveless vest, blue pants, and black and gold shoes. He sighed heavily as he stared at his messy desk. His eyes traveled over to a black and red male hedgehog who was pacing back and forth around the office with a stack of papers in each hand.

The hedgehog wore a long black trench coat with a red t shirt underneath, black pants, and white hover skates as shoes. The hedgehog stopped in his tracks when he noticed the green crocodile had stopped working. "Vector!"

The crocodile lazily replied to the hedgehog, "What?"

"If you keep slacking, you'll fall behind on your work…well…more behind." He muttered bitterly.

The crocodile sighed heavily and rested his back against his brown leather desk chair. "I'm not really feeling it today, Shad."

He felt like he should call it quits as well. He had been trying to motivate Vector to catch up with his work all morning, but nothing seemed to work. An agitated sigh had slipped from him as he placed the stacks of papers he was holding down on the surface of the desk. "You're never feeling it, Vec", he spoke as he saw down in another desk chair that sat across from the one Vector was sitting in. He arched an eyebrow when he heard a chuckle coming from Vector.

"You're way too serious, Shad. I thought I was in charge here?"

The hedgehog couldn't help but to form a sly look. "Without me, you'd lose your tail if it wasn't attached."

Vector made a sarcastic laugh, "You got jokes huh?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I can be a comedian sometimes." He heard more laughter out of Vector and saw him suddenly staring at him. By the way he was looking at him, he thought something was wrong. "…What?"

He shook his head slightly, "…Nothing."

He could still tell by the look on Vector's face that it was a little more than noting. "No tell me."

Vector sighed slightly and formed a small smile on his face as he was about to tell him what was really on his mind. "It's just…I've watched you and everyone else come such a long way over the years. I remember back when it was just Tonya, Charmy, and I. Then you and Espio came along. You guys came and joined the agency and then along came Rouge, Ker, Midnight, Appex…" His smile had widened at the hedgehog. "Shadow, you helped this team…no…this family to become whole. I don't know where I'd be if I didn't meet someone like you."

He bit his lip as he thought that Vector was over thinking how forgiving he really is towards people. "…Vector, I…"

"I know you may not fully understand my reasons for giving people so many chances. It's just… I want to believe that there is goodness inside of every living being. I don't believe people were born out of pure hate and anger. We all breathe the same air and we all share the same planet. We are all good people. There are just others who are misguided and how are we supposed to help them realize that if we don't give them that chance?"

"…Vector…"

"Just look at Ker, Midnight, Appex…they all were in a bad place but now look at them. They're with us and trying to help keep peace and order all around us."

Shadow thought back as Vector mentioned their names.

Ker was influenced by his brothers and sisters who were driven by hate for humans and mobians.

Midnight was created by Hao who had wanted to use him as a weapon to destroy Shadow and the rest of the Chaotix.

Appex was apart of a reckless street gang who never understood the real importance of having friends or a family who cared about them.

Vector had formed a warm smile, "You'll understand this one day, Shadow. I know you will and when you do, you will become a great leader."

Shadow suddenly felt his heart drop. What was Vector trying to say exactly? Did he want him to take over the detective business if something were to happen to him? Shadow couldn't bear to think of Vector leaving him or the team. He knew Vector was getting older but he was still a strong leader. Shadow couldn't see anything happening to him. Perhaps Vector knew something that he didn't. Just thinking about the horrible thoughts made him feel uneasy. He decided to change the subject. "Hey, Vector?"

"Yeah, Shad?"

"…I'm thinking about asking Rouge to marry me."

"You…and Rouge? Marriage?"

He made a small nod. "Do you think it's a good move?"

"…Do you love her?"

"…What?"

He repeated himself, "Do you love her?"

"Of course I do. She means the world to me."

"Then there you have it. If you two care about each other that much, then nothing should stop you two from spending the rest of your lives together."

A gentle smile formed on his lips.

"Shadow, you two have my blessing."

He was relieved that Vector thought it was a good decision for him to ask Rouge to finally take her hand in marriage. After all, the both of them had known each other since Shadow was in his early twenties. He was now a thirty year old man and he felt like he was ready to finally settle down with Rouge. "…Thank you, Vector."

The two were suddenly interrupted when the phone on Vector's desk had rung.

After the first couple of rings, Vector had decided to pick up the phone.

As Shadow heard Vector talking on the phone, he was deciding to leave the room to give him some privacy. Before he got the chance to move, Vector had already finished talking on the phone. He saw the surprised look on Vector's face and thought something was wrong. "What's up?" He saw Vector getting out of his chair and taking his brown trench coat off from the back of his chair.

"That was Mayor Sarah Wish. She wants to see me down at her office right away."

Shadow thought it was strange hat the mayor wanted to see him so suddenly. "Is something wrong? Should I come with you?"

After Vector had put on his coat, he shook his head at the alarmed hedgehog. "She didn't say what was up but she wants to see me alone."

Shadow saw how calm Vector was about the situation, but he had a feeling something was horribly wrong. "…Okay just be careful." He saw Vector opening the door and about to leave the office.

"Keep an eye on things for me will ya?"

He made a small nod, "Sure." He then saw him leave the office and close the door behind him.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Vector: What's going on?**

**Kiba: Long time no see...**

**Tonya: What the hell's going on?**

**Shadow: ...I don't have a choice do I?**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

Vector was roaming through the busy streets of Tech City. He was on his way to meet Mayor Sarah Wish at her office. He had wondered what made her suddenly want to see him. When he walked pass a narrow alley while he was deep in thought, he was suddenly pulled into the dark narrow alley. He felt multiple hands grab around his arms and wrists to restrain him. When he tried to figure out what was going on, he saw a mysterious figure standing in front of him. "Wha-what the hell is going on?"

The mysterious figure spoke in a menacing tone. "Long time no see, Vector."

When Vector focused more clearly on the mysterious figure, he soon realized who he truly was. "…Kiba?" He then saw him raise a handgun in the air and hit him hard in the head with the end of it, knocking him out cold.

Much later at the Chaotix, all of the detectives were still working out in the lobby until they saw a black and red hedgehog come into the room.

Espio made a sly smirk towards the hedgehog, "Well, well look who finally came out their cave."

Shadow had gave the purple chameleon an annoyed look as a reply back to him. He then saw a white bat woman approach him and embrace him lovingly.

She nuzzled against his chest, "Hey baby, I barely saw you all morning."

He softly kissed her forehead and caressed the side of her waist, "Yeah sorry I've been MIA. I just finished catching Vector up with his paperwork."

"I swear, Shadow. When you're not trying to snap someone in half, you're a hardcore paper pusher", Appex had teased.

Shadow made a small shrug, "It's not the greatest thing to do in the world but it has to be done."

Everyone suddenly heard Charmy's excited voice fill the room.

"Finally! I sent it!"

Ker who stood beside the desk Charmy was sitting on top of, glanced over the bee's shoulder and peeked at the screen of the tablet he was holding in his hands. "What's going on, Charmy?"

Charmy took his eyes away from his tablet and looked back at everyone's curious faces. "I just sent in my application to a special school for gifted mechanics."

"College?" Midnight had spoke.

Charmy made a nod, "I've been wanting to go there for the longest time. It's in Industrial City."

"Industrial City?" Espio repeated, "That's on like the other side of the world isn't it?"

Charmy had laughed, "Yeah I know. It's pretty far from here, but it's my dream school. I'm just so excited! I hope they accept me!"

"Well of course they'll accept you, Charmy", Tonya spoke in an assuring voice.

"You're a freakin' genius after all", Espio added.

The bee smiled as in happiness knowing that everyone had believed in him.

Rouge couldn't help but to be proud of Charmy. She turned to Shadow, "Well what do you know? Charmy going to college?"

"Yeah", Shadow spoke. "He's growing up. I bet Vector's really proud of him."

Just bringing up Vector's name reminded Rouge how long Vector was gone. "Speaking of which, do you know when Vector is coming back? He's been gone almost all morning."

When Shadow looked at the clock on the wall, he realized that she was right. Vector had been gone for about four hours. "I don't know when he's coming back. It shouldn't take him this long to get back." He took his cell phone out of his pants pocket and started to press multiple buttons. "I'm gonna text him to see if everything is all right. If he doesn't reply back soon, I'm going down there."

"Maybe he left on purpose so he'd make you do all of his work", Midnight had joked.

After Shadow finished texting, he placed his phone back in his pocket. "The hell he will. He's a lazy croc but not that lazy."

Tikal smiled at the group of detectives as they joked around and teased each other. Even though she wasn't officially a member of the Chaotix, she was still close friends with all of them. They made her feel like apart of their family. She was startled when a strange and powerful vibration shook the entire building with a loud booming noise following after.

It had made some pieces of the ceiling come down on the floor and objects were being knocked off of the desk, tables, and walls. It was even strong enough to make them fall to the floor.

Afterwards, they all stood from the floor in alarm.

"Wha-what the hell was that?" Tonya asked in a panicked voice.

Without waiting for anyone else to comment, Shadow quickly ran outside of the building.

When they all saw him run out the building, they all did the same and followed behind him. When they got outside, they saw Shadow standing in front of the building staring in disbelief at the sight of a huge black tank that had a crowd of familiar faces standing in front of it at the gates of their agency.

As Shadow studied the group of familiar figures, he soon realized that the group was the Silver Fang detectives. His eyes widened in shock when his eyes fell upon a white male wolf holding the barrel of a handgun at a green crocodile's head.

Everyone gasped in horror when they saw the sight of the crocodile kneeling to the ground with his hands tied behind his back and blood dripping from the side of his head.

Tears of worry swelled in Tonya's eyes, "Oh my God! Vector!"

Charmy couldn't take his watery eyes away from the sight of Vector who looked barely conscious because he had gotten beaten so badly.

Rouge's heart dropped as her eyes fell upon the white male bat who stood beside Kiba while holding a scythe in his hands. "…Sky?"

Shadow was practically lost for words. Why was the Silver Fangs there? Why did they have Vector with them? His heart raced in both anger and confusion. "…Kiba?"

With a twisted smile on his face, Kiba finally spoke out. "Shadow, it's been awhile. I was wondering if you had a moment out of your busy schedule to chat for a bit?"

Shadow glanced back at the roof of the building and saw black smoke coming from where the tank had blasted at it. He then looked back at the worried group of detectives standing behind him. He knew that Kiba wanted something and he wasn't going to get it without a fight. But what could he possibly want? He slowly turned away from them and looked back at Kiba who had threatened Vector's life right before his very eyes. He gave the wolf a strong hateful glare as the sky seemed to turn dark red and a strong wind had blown. He spoke in an angered tone, "…I don't have a choice…do I?"

When Kiba saw the hateful look Shadow had gave him, he gave the same look back except the same insane smile still remained on his face.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Shadow: What are you doing? He's playing with your mind!**

**Kiba: I just can't believe I didn't realize this sooner...**

**Tikal: It can't end like this.**

**Shadow: How could you do this to us?**

**Kiba: I'm not the monster here, Shadow...you are.**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

As Shadow slowly took a step forward, Kiba immediately spoke out to him. "Hold it, hedgehog!"

Shadow immediately did as Kiba demanded and had given him his full attention.

"I want you to come over here alone and with no weapons."

Shadow had began to hesitate towards Kiba's requests. He looked back at Vector and remembered what he had told him that violence and death wasn't the answer to everything. He wanted to believe him. He wanted to give it a chance for Vector's sake.

Rouge's eyes widened when she saw Shadow taking his guns and knives from his pockets and setting them carefully on the ground in front of him. "Shadow, no!"

"She's right", Ker spoke. "It's a trap."

Shadow turned his head to the group of detectives. "It doesn't matter. They have Vector. I won't risk it."

Rouge took a step forward towards him, "I won't let you do this."

"Rouge", Shadow spoke in a serious and firm tone. "Stay back." He made eye contact with the rest of the group, "All of you."

They all did as they were told and tried to have faith in Shadow.

Rouge clenched her fists as she became aggravated with Shadow's decision. 'Shadow, what the hell has gotten into you?'

When Shadow tried to walk towards him again, Kiba had once again stopped him.

"Hold on! Take off your coat", he ordered with an evil smirk.

Shadow was surprised that Kiba had wanted him to confront him without his coat on. Perhaps Kiba knew that Shadow had hidden weapons inside of his coat pockets. Shadow formed a small sly smile as he took off his black trench coat and placed it on the ground. "You're a smart man, Kiba."

"Come now, Shadow. There has to be some good perks for sleeping with the guns girl."

Rouge crossed her arms in annoyance as Kiba gave her a clever look. She knew that Kiba wasn't wrong. Rouge always made sure Shadow always carried good weapons on him.

Everyone watched as Shadow slowly started to walk towards Kiba and the rest of the Silver Fangs.

Tikal clasped her hands together and hoped that everything would work out between everyone. "I don't like this."

Appex kept staring at the black tank that had the barrel of it aimed at the building. "…They have a fucking tank."

Espio couldn't understand what made Shadow want to cooperate with Kiba so easily. It was so unlike him but he wanted to have faith in him.

Tears streamed down Charmy's face when he saw Vector suddenly coughing up some blood from his injuries. He sniffled softly, "…Vector…"

Once Shadow approached Kiba and the rest of the group, the same bitter look never left his face. "Okay Kiba, what do you want?"

"Something I've wanted for a long time actually. I was just too blind to realize it sooner."

"…What are you talking about?"

"Dark had made everything so clear to me."

He paused as Kiba mentioned the demon lord's name. "…What? Dark?"

Kiba continued, "Long story short, I'm sick of you and the rest of your team going around acting like big shots. Making us look second rate. You beat my team…my family to a bloody pulp and you just want us all to just say sorry to each other and walk off?" He shook his head, "No, it doesn't work that way."

Shadow couldn't believe that Kiba was so upset about what had happened between them and the Silver Fangs years ago. But since he now knew Dark was apart of this, he figured Kiba and the rest of his team were under some kind of mind control. "Kiba, listen to me. Dark's playing with your mind. He's trying to turn us against each other."

Vector had wanted to just calmly talk to Kiba to snap him out of his outrageous thoughts. "…Kiba…" He flinched when Kiba had suddenly snapped at him.

"Shut up!" He pressed the cold barrel of the gun harder to his head.

Just by seeing Kiba holding the gun at Vector, Shadow had gotten more and more angry. "…You set Vector up didn't you?" He then saw Jessica holding a strange device up to her mouth.

Jessica had began to talk into the device. "Yes Vector, this is Mayor Wish. I'd like to see you down at my office immediately." Afterwards, she had giggled.

Shadow couldn't believe it. They had a device that made her voice sound exactly like Sarah's. "How could you? How could you do this? We called a truce damn it!" His clenched fists shook as he got even more infuriated.

Rouge saw how everything was going from afar and feared that things would take a turn for the worst. She turned to the group, "This isn't looking pretty. We have to arm ourselves."

After Rouge's suggestion, everyone thought it was a good idea to keep their weapons close to them in case something had happened.

Espio saw Rouge kneeling down behind an old huge scrap of metal. His jaw dropped when he saw her taking out a sniping rifle. He quickly kneeled down next to her. "Rouge, what the hell are you doing? You can't just open fire."

She looked through the scope of the rifle and rested her finger on the trigger, "Why not? I'm a damn good shot. I could take Kiba out right now and end all of this." She watched as Espio forced her to lower her rifle. She angrily turned to the chameleon.

"I know this looks crazy but if we make a wrong move because we didn't follow orders, it's all of our asses. You got that?"

She sighed angrily and turned away from Espio as she continued to watch what was going on between Kiba and Shadow.

"To hell with your truce!" Kiba shouted, "All you and your team has done is cause us pain. You just enjoy making us look like absolute shit!"

"You came at us first! You kidnapped Tonya and you tried to kill us you crazy son of a bitch!"

Kiba noticed a green aura glowing around both of Shadow's clenched fists. He just knew that he was planning to attack him by using his Chaos powers. "Don't think about it! Don't you dare!"

Vector flinched as Kiba once again pushed the barrel of the gun against the side of his head.

"I'll kill him! I'll kill the old bastard right now!"

Everyone began to panic as Kiba's threats became even fiercer towards Vector.

Shadow's eyes widened when he saw Kiba's finger setting on the trigger of the handgun he held. He had then realized that Kiba wasn't bluffing and would kill Vector if he wanted to. "No! Stop!"

Once Kiba saw the green aura fading from around Shadow's hands, he took the gun away from Vector's head slowly.

"What do you want?"

"What I want? I want you to shut down your agency."

"…What?"

"You heard me. There's no room for the both of us. There can be only one."

Shadow had wanted to blast Kiba with his Chaos powers badly. His rage had set in and he was tempted to destroy them all in one blast. Before he could make his final decision about what to do, he heard Vector's weak voice call out to him.

"Sha-Shadow…"

Shadow's red eyes quickly shifted over to the green crocodile. He could tell that Vector didn't want anyone to fight or to get hurt. He figured that Vector thought that Kiba was still a good man deep down. Shadow once again set his anger aside and decided to calmly talk to Kiba as he knew Vector would have wanted him to. "Kiba, we don't have to do this. We can start over. We can work together."

Kiba and the rest of the Silver Fang detectives began to listen to Shadow.

"If we do this, we can be a bigger and stronger team. Can't you see? Dark is just trying to manipulate you. He's trying to turn you into something you never would imagine yourself to be. Don't become the monster he's trying to make you become."

Sky who stood beside him, had slowly turned his head to Kiba.

Shadow knew from how Vector looked at him, that he was proud of how he was handling the situation.

Sky saw the expression Kiba had made on his face and he thought that Kiba had realized that he was making a grave mistake.

Shadow had then saw the white wolf drop the black handgun onto the ground. After witnessing that, his nerves had calmed and thought that he had finally gotten through to him.

Kiba looked up at Shadow with a serious expression, "You know better than all of us. I'm not the monster here, Shadow…you are."

Sky had watched as Kiba snatched the scythe from his hands and without hesitation swung the blade into Vector's neck.

The air was filled with horrific cries and screams of distraught and devastation from the Chaotix detectives.

When Kiba took the blade out of Vector's neck, Shadow felt his entire body shaking and everything going black. The green aura had once again flowed around his shaking fists. "No!"

With it coming at him so sudden, Kiba's shoulder had been struck by the searing burn of the Chaos energy Shadow had hit him with.

Once he dropped the scythe to the ground, Rouge began to angrily fire her rifle towards the Silver Fang detectives.

The rest of the Chaotix team had began to fire their weapons at them as well with screams and sobbing.

Before Shadow could get back to the rest of the group, Zeak had shot Shadow in his leg making him fall to the ground. Even while on the ground, he still managed to crawl behind a piece of scrap metal that was setting near him. While he took cover from the gunshots, he winced in pain from the bullet wound to his leg.

As Kiba held his bloody shoulder, he angrily fixed his eyes on the Chaotix building that set in front of him. He groaned from the pain on his shoulder. Even though the rest of the Silver Fangs were already firing at the Chaotix, Kiba still yelled and spat out orders. "I've had enough of this! We will no longer become the weak ones! Kill them! Kill them all!"

Once they all heard his orders, they all began to march towards the Chaotix building with the tank leading the way.

**In The Next Chapter...**

**Shadow: Dark…it's so dark…**

**Charmy: This isn't real!**

**Midnight: It's too dangerous!**

**Rouge: I should've taken him out when I had the chance…**

**Kiba: It's over!**

**Shadow: It's all my fault…**

**Rouge: Shadow, no!**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

The Chaotix detectives scattered as the black tank sent a powerful blast at their headquarters.

The blast was enough to take out the entire front of the building.

They all took cover as pieces and rubble flew into the air.

With tears and cries of sadness, they continued to fire their weapons at the Silver Fangs.

Charmy was so devastated, he stood where he was and continued sobbing. He cried even harder as he saw Kiba take Vector's lifeless body and began to cut more deeply into his bloody neck with a combat knife.

Kiba took the knife and sawed the blade of it into the neck until the head had completely separated from the body.

After when Charmy witnessed the gruesome sight, he felt a hand tug at his arm. He turned and saw Midnight tugging at his arm.

"Come on, Charmy! We gotta get out of here! It's too dangerous!" He suddenly saw the bee jerk his arm away from his grip.

"No!" Chamry screamed while sobbing, "Just leave me alone!"

Midnight was lost for words. He knew Charmy was devastated over Vector's death, but it wasn't the time and it wasn't safe. He didn't know what to do except watch him kneel to the ground and continue to breakdown and cry. "…Charmy…" He had then heard Espio's voice coming from behind him.

"What's wrong?"

Midnight turned to the purple chameleon who ran over to them. "It's Charmy. He…" Before he could finish his words, Espio had tried to talk to Charmy. "Charmy, I know this is hard, but we can't help him now! We gotta get to a safer location!"

When another shot was fired from the tank at the building, they all practically fell to the ground from the explosion.

While Rouge was trying to take cover from the gun fires and explosions, she had ran into Tonya.

They both took cover on the ground when they saw Jessica and Zeak trying to fire at them with their guns.

While they both fired back at them, Tonya yelled over to Rouge. "Where the fuck are the cops? Don't they hear all this shit going on?"

"I'm just wondering how the fuck they got to Tech City with a tank!" She shouted as she fired back at them, "Tonya, have you seen Shadow?"

The purple cat shook her head, "No I don't know where he went."

Rouge didn't know what had happened to him after everyone started firing at each other. She had hoped that he was okay. "I'm sure he's fine." Her eyes had then caught sight of the tank that was still blasting at what was left of the Chaotix building. "Fuck the TCPD! We gotta take out that thank!"

Jessica turned to Zeak who was standing beside her as they fired their guns at Rouge and Tonya. "I think they're getting too comfortable."

With an evil smirk on his face, Zeak had thrown a small object on the ground near Tonya and Rouge.

Tonya's eyes widened in horror when she saw a small dark green grenade rolling out in front of her and Rouge. She gasped and turned to Rouge, "Move it!"

Quickly Rouge and Tonya scattered away from the grenade just in time before it had exploded.

After when Tonya fell to the ground, she called for Rouge, "Rouge! Are you okay?"

With her body laying on the ground, she rose her head up when she heard Tonya call out for her. "Yeah I'm just peachy", she answered back in a sarcastic tone.

Kiba slowly walked around and began to search for Shadow until he was suddenly tackled from behind to the ground by a black and red hedgehog. The handgun he was holding was knocked out of his hands once he hit the ground. He tried to get up but Shadow pinned his body to the ground and constantly sent multiple hard punches to the face. The more he punched him in the face, the more his nose and mouth bled. When he gathered some of his strength, he pushed Shadow off of his body and began to punch him back.

Tikal was heartbroken as she watched everyone fight and shoot at each other. She held her arms as her body shook in fright. "This isn't happening…" she murmured in a weak voice as tears streamed down her face. When she heard footsteps approaching her, she turned and saw a brown male mongoose standing across from her.

The mongoose held what it seemed to be an acupuncture needle in his hand. "You look a little weak in the knees. Maybe you should lay down and relax!"

When she saw him throw the needle at her, she was so scared she couldn't move. She shut her eyes tightly awaiting for the needle to stab her. When she didn't feel the pain of the needle piercing into her flesh, she opened her eyes and saw Ker standing in front of her holding the needle in his hand. She made a small smile in relief at the sight of the demon who had protected her. "Ker!"

The furious male demon gave the mongoose a hateful look. "How dare you! I won't allow you to hurt anymore of my friends!"

A twisted smile formed on Ace's face, "You're all so pathetic! You all deserve to die together!"

Without saying another word, Ker threw the needle back at Ace.

He had thrown the needle back at him so quickly, he didn't have time enough to move. He cried out in pain as the needle sunk into the palm of his hand.

Jessica ran over to the mongoose when she witnessed him getting hurt. "Ace! Are you okay?"

Ace painfully removed the needle from his bloody hand and threw it onto the ground. "Damn you, demon!"

Now that Jessica was with Ace, Tikal had began to worry all over again. She continued to hide behind Ker for protection.

As the tank got closer to the Chaotix building, Rouge snuck around the tank without being seen and tossed a grenade into the barrel of it.

It didn't take long for Kuroi to quickly hop out of the top of the tank and run away from it before it had exploded from the inside. Once she stood outside of the destroyed tank, she turned to the white bat woman who was pointing a handgun at her head. She made an uneasy smile at the bat. "Come on, Rouge. No hard feeling right?"

The furious bat woman pushed the barrel of the gun closer to her forehead. "You blew up our agency…" She growled in a low tone, "…Go fuck yourself." Before she pulled the trigger to the gun, a familiar male voice called out to her.

"Don't do it, Rouge."

She looked where the voice had came from and saw a male white bat slowly approaching her with a scythe in his hands. The blade of it was covered in blood. "…Sky…"

When Kuroi saw that Rouge had been distracted by Sky, she quickly took off.

The male bat arched an eyebrow when he saw her point her handgun at him. "Come now, little sister. You wouldn't kill your only brother would you?"

Rouge had looked at him with her heart broken over what he and the rest of his teammates were doing. She shook her head slowly, "How…how could you do this?"

Sky stood there with an evil smirk on his face while flashing his fangs.

Shadow and Kiba were still on the ground continuing to beat up each other.

Shadow kicked Kiba off of his body and got on top of him with his blood running off of his face and dripping onto Kiba's. He took one hand and grabbed Kiba tightly around his neck trying to suffocate him.

When Kiba tried to get out of his grip, he saw Shadow raising his free hand which had a green aura around it.

"I should've done this from the start!" When he placed his glowing hand on top of Kiba's face, he watched as Kiba's flesh burned from the touch of his Chaos powers. "Damn you! I want you to suffer! I want you to pay!"

Kiba yelled and screamed from the burn, he fought and fought until he knocked Shadow off of his body by stabbing him in the stomach with his combat knife. He quickly got off of the ground while holding his searing face. He winced and yelled in pain as his face burned. "My face!"

While Shadow was on the ground holding his bleeding side, he looked up at Kiba who hatefully looked at him with one side of his face severely burned.

"You half demon shit!" Kiba approached Shadow and started to repeatedly kick him in his side.

More and more blood arose from his mouth as Kiba continued to kick him. When he had stopped kicking him, he saw Kiba kneeling down to him and roughly grabbed him around his neck. His eyes weakly spotted a shiny and sharp object Kiba had held in his other hand. Shadow tried to pull away but he was too weak after fighting with him. He could feel the point of the knife he held being touched against the side of his head.

"First I'll stab you right through your head and into your brain", Kiba had growled in an exhausted tone. "Then I'll cut off your fucking head and put it on a stick right next to Vector's."

Shadow tightly shut his eyes waiting for Kiba to kill him until they both heard multiple police sirens. Shadow gasped for air when Kiba released his grip from around his neck.

When Kiba saw the flashing red and blue lights, he decided it was best to leave.

Blood spewed from Shadow's mouth as he laid there weak on the ground.

The rest of the Chaotix and Silver Fangs also heard the police coming.

All of the Silver Fangs decided to retreat and find Kiba.

While Rouge and Sky stood across from each other exchanging cold glares, they heard the police sirens as well.

Sky made a sympathetic yet sarcastic expression. "Sorry little sister, but this is my cue to get out of here."

"…Why?" She spoke in a hurtful tone, "Why are you doing this to us? To me?"

"Because I serve Kiba and I will follow him into the darkness if I must to remain by his side."

Before Rouge could say anything else to him, she felt a strong unseen force. She turned to Sky and saw him fading into an aura of darkness. She looked around and noticed the rest of the Silver Fangs had done the same. "What's happening?" She thought it was best to find Shadow as soon as possible. "…Shadow." She had then ran off to go look for him.

Shadow coughed up more blood as he slowly got off of the ground and glared at the Kiba who had given him the same look back.

"I sold my soul to the devil himself just to become stronger. This little war isn't over between us, Shadow. We will meet again…"

Shadow watched as Kiba faded into a strange black aura.

When police cars, swat cars, and ambulances had finally arrived, it was too late. All of the Silver Fangs had vanished.

Just by seeing the police arriving, Shadow wanted to collapse back onto the ground because his body was so damaged and weak.

A yellow fox woman had rushed out of one of the police cars. She had brown hair that she had held up with a hairclip. Her outfit consisted of a brown blazer with a white collared shirt underneath, a brown mini skirt and black high heeled shoes. She caught sight of a bloody and beaten black hedgehog who was barely standing. "Oh my God! Shadow!" She shouted as she ran over to him. "What happened to you?" When she tried to reach out to him, Shadow acted like she wasn't there and walked over to Vector's lifeless body that laid on the ground.

The confused fox woman stopped in her tracks when she saw Shadow walk pass her like she wasn't even there. She then saw Espio ran over to her.

"Sarah Wish?" Espio had spoke in a relieved tone.

She turned to the exhausted looking chameleon, "Espio? What the hell happened?"

Espio sighed heavily and didn't know where exactly to begin. When he saw Sarah staring at the destroyed building in distraught, he stared at the horrific sight as well.

When Shadow approached Vector's body, he saw Charmy kneeling beside it and laying his head on his chest. He heard the bee sobbing loudly.

His face was covered in some of Vector's blood as he rested his head on his body. "Vector!" He sobbed, "You can't die! You can't!"

Just looking at how Charmy cried broke Shadow's heart. When he thought he could no longer watch him cry anymore, he walked over to the front of what was once the building of their detective agency.

The building was completely destroyed. Rubble was all over the ground and black smoke was coming from the top of the roof.

Shadow fell to his knees in disbelief over everything that had happened.

Rouge who was standing behind him, watched him stare at the destroyed building.

Shadow placed a hand to his forehead and began to quietly sob.

Rouge's heart raced when she saw him pick up a handgun from the ground and slowly raised it to the side of his head. "Shadow!" She ran over to him and knocked the gun out of his hand. "Shadow, no!"

When she embraced him from behind, his sobs had gotten louder. "It's my fault! It's all my fault!"

Tears streamed down Rouge's face while she embraced him, "Shadow! It's not your fault!" She rested her head on his back and began to sob as well. "It's not your fault okay? It's not your fault…"

The rest of the detectives watched as Shadow and Rouge both broke down in front of their destroyed headquarters.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Espio: Vector's funeral is tomorrow.**

**Tonya: Is Shadow going?**

**Rouge:…I don't know…**

**Ker: We all need to be together…for Vector…**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

A week later, everyone grew distant from each other because of what had happened. They all had mixed feelings about the grim situation. They felt depressed, angry, and guilty.

It was mid in the afternoon when Rouge was visiting Tonya at her house. Tonya's house always seemed busy because Ker and Tikal had stayed with her.

Espio, Tonya, Tikal, and Rouge were all sitting in the living room. They were all talking about what had happened since the horrific event took place at the Chaotix.

Rouge was sitting on a sofa across from Espio, Tonya, and Tikal who were sitting on another sofa. "So", she began. "How have you guys been?"

Tonya sighed heavily and couldn't bring herself to mention all the things that had went on during the week, "It's been a long week."

Tikal made a small nod as she agreed with her.

"How's your week been going?" Espio had asked Rouge.

Rouge shook her head slowly, "Hell", she simply answered.

"Sounds on point", Espio had started to regret asking the question. Now that he thought about it, he supposed everyone was feeling that kind of way.

"How is everyone?" Rouge asked, "I mean…have you heard from anyone?"

The purple cat shrugged her shoulders, "We haven't heard much of anything from anyone. Everyone is just kinda spread out right now."

Rouge figured that everyone was so depressed and still in shock, they had no idea what to do. "…I see."

"What about Shadow? Is he doing all right?" Tikal asked hesitantly.

"Define 'all right'", Espio spoke in a bitter tone.

"…I mean…he's not…trying to blow his brains out or nothing is he?" Tikal could remember how Shadow had tried to kill himself in front of the destroyed Chaotix building.

Rouge slightly shook her head, "I've been staying with him ever since the incident. His injuries are slowly healing and he had that one episode that day of the incident but since then he's been doing okay. Zero suicide attempts."

Espio arched an eyebrow as he found it hard to believe her. "You sure? Shadow does have the tendency to um…overreact."

Rouge bit her lip as she remembered that he had started to drink a lot more, "He's been picking up on his drinking because he's been so stressed out, but since then he hasn't cried and isn't talking much. He's been in and out of the police station all week trying to get information together. I just think he's super exhausted."

"Yeah", Tonya could relate that being in a police station for hours and hours would seem extremely tiresome. "And I bet Margaret was there too."

Espio had made an uneasy look when Tonya mentioned Vector's wife. Margaret and Shadow had never gotten along and Espio knew Margaret was angry with what had happened to Vector. Shadow would be the only person she would blame.

Rouge clenched her fists angrily. "Damn Margaret! She makes me so mad! She's been giving Shadow so much Hell about everything!"

"What has she been saying?" Tikal asked.

Rouge sighed heavily before she began to explain what had went on between Shadow and Margaret during the week. "Before Shadow had left the police station a couple days ago, Margaret came up to him and said all these awful things to him. She told him that it was his fault the agency is gone and it was his fault that Vector died."

"…Did Shadow knock her the fuck out?" Espio asked.

She slowly shook her head, "No he just walked away and ignored her."

The purple chameleon crossed his arms angrily as he became infuriated that Margaret was blaming Shadow for everything that had happened. "He should've fucking punched her."

"I mean Shadow already feels like crap and Margaret's just making everything worse for him and everybody", Rouge spoke.

Tonya sadly looked down to the floor as Charmy came to her mind. "And poor Charmy. God knows what kind of crazy shit she's filling his head with."

"Charmy?" Espio didn't believe that Charmy would actually take Margaret's side. Charmy adored and respected Shadow. Charmy was always on good terms with him. "No, he could never turn against Shadow like that."

"All I know is Charmy's devastated", Tikal spoke.

"After all, Vector was like a father to him." Tonya knew Charmy had grew up without ever knowing his real parents before they got mysteriously murdered. She placed herself in his shoes and it seemed like he lost the closest person he had as a father.

"So", Espio began. "Vector's funeral is tomorrow."

Rouge made a small nod, "Yeah."

"…Is Shadow going?" Tonya asked.

Rouge spoke in a hesitant voice, "…I…I don't know."

"He should go", a voice spoke.

Everyone turned and saw Ker who had walked downstairs while he held a white mug in his hands. The mug was filled with hot chocolate. The demon stepped into the living room and joined the rest of the group. "We all need to be together…for Vector."

Espio, Tonya, and Tikal nodded as they agreed with him.

Rouge looked down to the floor and bit her lip, "He just never mentioned a thing about it. I just hope he feels the same way."

It was late that afternoon when Rouge had arrived back to Shadow's house after meeting and catching up with everyone. When she entered into the kitchen, she saw Shadow shutting the refrigerator door and spotted him holding a beer bottle in his hand. She rolled her eyes in annoyance at the sight and didn't seem surprised that he was drinking.

"You're back already?" He asked while opening the beer bottle.

She made a small nod, "Yeah."

"How is everyone?" He asked before he started to take a sip from the bottle.

She could tell by the way he was talking, he was already drunk. "You would know if you were there and not here getting drunk all day."

"I had a long day okay?"

Rouge saw him walking into the living room and followed him into the room. She saw more empty beer bottles practically covering the small table that was setting in front of the sofa he had sat on.

"I was down at the station again and ran into that fucking cunt again."

Rouge had assumed he was talking about Margaret. "What did she say to you?"

He slightly shook his head, "The same shit since this whole fucking thing started."

Rouge figured he was still upset over what Margaret had kept saying to him. "Shad, it's not true okay?"

"Yeah". he spoke in a bitter tone. "I know. It's not my fault. Don't worry. I'm not gonna fucking kill myself so stop trying to baby me."

She wasn't surprised that he was beginning to get hostile with her. He was drinking after all. She tried to remain calm even though his attitude had struck a nerve inside of her. "I'm just making sure you're okay."

"I'm fine", he snapped.

She crossed her arms as she became more and more irritated with his behavior. "You're drunk", she spoke in a low voice that was so low, it only allowed him to hear some murmuring coming from her.

"What?"

She decided to change the subject before he began to get even more agitated and would cause the two to start pointlessly arguing. "Are you going to the funeral tomorrow?"

Shadow had paused for a moment until he finally spoke, "…No."

This was a problem. Everyone was going to be at the funeral and of all people Shadow wasn't planning on going? She felt like he had to go. She wanted him to be there for the rest of the team. "Shadow, you need to go."

He took another sip from the beer bottle. "Why should I?"

"Everyone would like to see you. They're all worried."

He took his eyes away from her, "No one is concerned with me. They hate me."

She shook her head, "No they don't…" She was then cut off when Shadow spoke again.

He turned to her in anger, "You don't get it do you?"

She paused and decided to let Shadow talk.

"You all think it's not my fault that we lost everything but you're wrong! Margaret is right about me!"

She figured that he was still upset over the things Margaret had said to him, "Shadow…"

"The agency is in ruins and Vector is dead because I fell weak! I failed everyone because I let Kiba take control! I could've taken him out right then but I didn't because Vector didn't believe I was a cold blooded killer! He saw the humanist in me! He…he had faith in me…" He sadly looked down at the floor as tears swelled in his eyes.

"…You know what? Screw what everyone else thinks, Shadow. You know you tried to do the right thing and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. You did what you had to because yes…Vector looked at you in a different light." Afterwards, she heard nothing but silence from the hedgehog. "I'm not saying you have to come to the funeral, but you shouldn't go for your friends. Go to show respect for Vector."

Without Shadow taking his eyes away from the floor, he heard her footsteps walk into the kitchen and then heard the door open and close.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: Vector's done so much for us. The best we can do is be there for him one last time…**

**Sarah: It's okay to feel this way.**

**Shadow: What can I say to him? What can I say to anybody?**

**Tonya: What's going to happen? To us? The Chaotix?**

**Rouge: Shadow, talk to them!**

**Shadow:…**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

It was early the next morning and Rouge was at her house in her room looking out of her window. She stared at the dark grey sky and watched the light rain fall from the dreary sky while she was talking on the phone to Tonya. She sighed in an exhausted tone as she heard Tonya's voice through the receiver of the phone.

"What a fitting day for a funeral am I right?"

Rouge walked over to her mirror that had set on the wall. She looked at herself wearing a black tight blazer with a white collared shirt underneath, a black mini skirt, and black high heeled shoes. "Tell me about it."

"At least we get to see everyone at the funeral."

She paused and remembered that Shadow wasn't going to the funeral. …"Um, yeah", she spoke in a sad tone.

By the tone of Rouge's voice, Tonya assumed that Shadow wasn't going. "…Shadow is going…right?"

She paused and shook her head slightly. "Um I don't think…" Her words trailed off when she heard the door opening to her room. She spun around and spotted a black and red hedgehog stepping into the bedroom and closing the door behind him. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw him wearing a black blazer, a white collared shirt, a red tie, black pants, and black dress shoes. "…Oh my God."

Tonya could tell by Rouge's sudden pausing that something was going on. "Rouge? Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her daze and decided to reply back to Tonya. "Um yeah. Tonya, I'll see you at the funeral." Afterwards, she had hung up her phone and practically dropped it onto the surface of her dresser.

Before Shadow could speak a word to her, he was pulled into a loving embrace by the bat woman. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him as they stood in the middle of the quiet room.

While she hugged him, she felt tears swell in her eyes, but she fought them back. She took her hand and caressed the side of his face as she stared happily into his red eyes. "I'm so glad you're here, baby."

He took her hand away from his cheek and gently kissed it. "I'm sorry…for how I've been acting. I just…"

She shook her head slightly and made a small smile, "It's okay."

He held her hand, "…Vector's done so much for us. The best we can do is be there for him one last time."

With a tear falling down her cheek, she nodded and hugged him once again.

Later on that morning, Shadow and Rouge had both arrived at the church where Vector's funeral was held. When they stepped inside, they looked around the fairly big church. The lighting inside was very dim making everything look dark. It was so quiet, they could practically hear every rain drop hit the roof of the church.

Everyone who was sitting on the wooden benches, turned and stared at Shadow and Rouge who were standing at the doorway.

They saw the entire Chaotix team, Rouge's ex boyfriend Knuckles and his girlfriend Julie-Su, Sarah, and other people who were close with Vector. They both didn't really pay attention to everyone's stares. They were too focused on the closed casket setting in the front and center of the room.

Rouge made a small but weak smile at Shadow before she walked away to look for somewhere to sit.

When a green crocodile woman saw Rouge walk pass her, she flashed her eyes over to the black hedgehog who was still standing at the doorway who acted as though he was in a daze. She angrily gritted her teeth. "I can't believe he's here", she muttered under her breath.

The yellow and black bee who was sitting next to her clearly heard her murmuring about Shadow, but he didn't seem to care enough to comment about it.

Before Shadow could sit down with Rouge a yellow fox woman approached him.

The fox woman gave him a sympathetic look, "Shadow, I…" She sighed heavily as she tried to think twice before actually saying what she wanted to him. "…I'm sorry."

His red eyes shifted over to the female crocodile who was sitting next to Charmy and then looked back at her. "Margaret's over there you know?" Before he could walk away from her, she had spoke out to him again.

"I know how you feel, Shadow. It's okay to feel guilty. A lot of us feel that way, but we all know deep down that we didn't cause all of this."

"You're right", he spoke without turning to her. "We're not responsible for his death."

A faint smile appeared on her lips as she began to think that Shadow was slowly taking Vector's death better than he had. A nervous look had overcame her face when she saw him turning to her with a look full of anger.

"It was Kiba", he growled. "Him and the rest of the Silver Fangs."

Her eyes looked away from his, "…I know."

"You'd better do something about this, Sarah", he demanded in an angry but low tone.

She could tell he was getting more and more upset and feared that he could possibly make a scene in front of everyone. "I know you're upset, Shadow. We all are, but first of all, The Silver Fangs vanished without a trace. They're no where to be found so there's nothing we can do right now."

Shadow was hoping to hear some better news from Sarah but it was the same information she had given him the entire week. Hearing it over again just infuriated him even more.

"And second, I've alerted the detective council and all city directors that they are wanted criminals and are accomplices with Dark Demon. Sooner or later they'll be found and brought to justice."

"…You mean killed."

Her heart raced. She wanted to think that Shadow was just angry and he was just saying things he didn't mean, but he had looked so serious about it. "…Shadow, the system doesn't work that way and you know it. There has to be a trial first…" She was suddenly cut off by Shadow.

"No! Damn the detective council and the TCPD!"

She flinched as Shadow's voice had gotten louder, "Shadow!"

"You weren't there! You didn't see it!"

"Calm down! You're not understanding me!"

"He fucking cut his head off, Sarah!" He was startled when he suddenly felt Espio's hand fall upon his shoulder. In annoyance, he turned to the purple chameleon behind him.

"Shadow", he spoke in a calm and low voice. "Not here, dude."

After Espio had broke the two up from their argument, Shadow had then realized that this wasn't the place to decide on what to do if the Silver Fangs ever got caught. He took a deep breath to help him calm down and decided to sit down with Rouge.

As the funeral went on, everyone cried, smiled, and remembered the wonderful moments they shared with Vector. It was just the shocking reality that he was no longer with them.

After the service, everyone was starting to leave.

Shadow was eager more than anyone else to leave it seemed.

Rouge watched as Shadow stood from the bench and took her hand.

"Come on Rouge, let's get out of here."

She was surprised at how sudden Shadow had wanted to leave. "Hold on, Shad. Don't you want to talk to everyone a little first?"

He sighed heavily before he responded, "…No not really."

She couldn't believe it. Shadow didn't want to come to associate with anyone. He just did what she suggested to him and it was to come simply for Vector's memorial service. "…Not even Charmy? You don't want to say anything to him?"

Shadow glanced over to the bee who was still wiping some tears away from his face. He looked back at Rouge, "…What can I say to him? What can I say to anybody?" Suddenly, he heard a bitter feminine voice behind him.

"Really? You have nothing to say especially while you watched as Kiba took my husband's life in front of everyone's face?"

Shadow turned to Margaret who was standing behind him with her arms crossed and an angered look on her face. Before Shadow could respond to her, Rouge had surprisingly spoke up.

"You know what, Margaret?" Rouge spoke out in a furious tone. "Shadow had always been there for everyone and for some reason you still see him as this cold hearted monster. Yes, Shadow may have a temper on him and he may act selfish at times, but he has a heart and soul like every single one of us. And when he tries to do one humane thing in respect to Vector, you wanna be the first to judge him. Do yourself a favor and go fuck yourself because Shadow is more compassionate than you will ever be."

And with those words, Margaret watched in shock as Rouge stormed pass her.

Before Shadow could leave out the church with her, Tonya had called out to him.

"Shadow!"

Shadow slowly spun around to the purple cat woman.

A worried look had appeared on her face, "…What's going to happen? To the Chaotix? To us?"

He paused at first. He looked around at his teammates who stood there eager to hear an answer from him. There was so much going on and so much happening. He never actually thought about what would happen to the team after this? Would everyone split up and go their separate ways? Would this truly be the end for them? He gave her an unsure look, "…I don't know…"

With Tonya and the rest of the group frowning upon Shadow's reply, they watched as he left out the church along with Rouge.

Meanwhile, inside of a suspicious club located in the west district of Tech City, bikers and gangsters were hanging out drinking and gambling.

There was a purple and white male weasel who wore a brown jacket, a white collared shirt, white fitted pants, a brown hat, brown shoes, and brown gloves sitting at the bar. He glanced around the bar and then turned back to a shot glass that was full of alcohol setting in front of him. After when he took a sip out of the shot glass, a brown male chipmunk and a green squirrel woman suddenly joined the weasel and sat next to him.

The chipmunk was dressed in a white t shirt, blue jeans, and wore white sneakers.

The squirrel's attire had more of a goth look to it. She wore a black crop top, a leather blue jacket, a black mini skirt, black fishnet leggings, and black knee high boots.

"Nack, we have news!" The chipmunk exclaimed.

The weasel arched an eyebrow towards him and wondered what had gotten him so excited. His eyes widened as he saw him suddenly slam a newspaper down onto the counter in front of him.

"It's all over the news!"

Nack's eyes slowly read the headline of the paper. "Well, well", he spoke in an interested voice. "The Chaotix is finished!"

"And their precious leader, Vector is dead", the squirrel added.

"They lost their agency and leader! What luck!" The chipmunk spoke.

"Apparently those Silver Fang detectives went rogue and no one knows where they are." The squirrel explained.

"Heh! Who cares?" The weasel turned to the two, "They fucked their shit up so that means we can tear this town a new ass."

The chipmunk bit his lip as the image of a black and red hedgehog came to his mind, "But…what about Shadow?"

"Yeah", the squirrel agreed. "He's still alive."

Nack acted as though he wasn't concerned with the hedgehog. "Please! You think after all that, he's running around playing hero?"

The two both looked at each other and shrugged.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go fucking nuts!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: I can't do this…**

**Rouge: Shadow, they need a leader. They need you.**

**Shadow: This is just too much.**

**Rouge: I don't know what you need.**

**Shadow: I need this. I need you…**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

Later on that evening after Vector's funeral, both Shadow and Rouge had gotten back to Shadow's house. They both felt drained from all the excitement that happened at the funeral as they stepped into the kitchen.

Shadow sat down in a chair at the table in exhaustion. He watched as Rouge lazily leaned on the door of the refrigerator.

She sighed tiredly as she rubbed her forehead, "God I hate funerals." She turned to Shadow who was looking down at the surface of the table. It looked like he had a lot on his mind. "Shadow", she spoke. "Is this really it?"

He slowly looked away from the table and back at her, "…It seems that way, hun."

She slowly shook her head as she didn't want to believe that the Chaotix team had split up for good. "But this can't be. This city needs us."

"They have the military and the TCPD."

She sighed heavily, "It's not the same."

"The agency is destroyed, Rouge. What do you want me to do?" Shadow watched as she sat across from him and placed her hand on top of his.

"I'm talking about us…the team. This can't be the thing that separates us."

"What can I do about it?"

"Shadow", her eyes had looked into his. "They're completely lost without you. They need a leader."

He looked away from her and looked down. "…I can't."

"What are you saying? Of course you can. You're the only one who can…" Her words got cut off as Shadow spoke.

"Rouge, this isn't as easy as you're making it sound. We're talking about money here…lots of fucking money to restart and rebuild another agency."

"Well Vector had insurance didn't he?"

"Oh yeah he definitely signed up for tank insurance", he spoke in a sarcastic tone.

She sighed heavily after his sarcastic remark, "Shadow, that's not…"

"I know…but yeah even if we did have the money and time to rebuild, it's still a shit ton of work. Everything will be officially in my hands."

"But that shouldn't be a problem for you." She formed a small smile. "After all, you used to run that place backwards and forwards anyway."

He sighed heavily as he thought about what she had said to him. "I'm not saying that we'll do this but I think we should discuss this with everyone openly and see what they think."

Her smile widened with relief. She was glad that he finally at least put more thought into getting everyone back together. She lightly kissed his hand, "Thank you, baby." She stood up from the chair she was sitting in and began to walk over to the refrigerator until Shadow had called out to her.

"Hey, Rouge?"

When she spun around, she saw him get out of the chair and suddenly pushed her back against the refrigerator gently.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her body close to his. "You've done so much for me to help me get through this shit storm. I kinda would like you to do something else for me."

She was taken by surprise by Shadow's sudden actions. "What do you need, hun?" She suddenly felt his lips brush upon her neck gently.

"I need this…I need you." He took his lips from her neck and leaned close to her until their lips were locked in a slow and passionate kiss.

While they kissed, she felt his hand sliding down to her bare thigh and moving back up inside of her black skirt. She took her lips away from his and gave him a lustful look, "…I need you too, Shadow." A small gasp escaped her when she felt him stroking her with his fingers.

He pulled her into another heated kiss while he continued to stroke her moist opening. He had then shoved his fingers inside of her slowly.

Small moans escaped her as she felt him push his fingers in and out of her.

He broke their kiss and practically threw her onto the table.

Her body was placed on top of the small table, knocking some of the things to the floor as well. She formed a seductive look when she saw him kneeling down to the floor. She felt her black lace thong slipping down her legs slowly. She then saw him spreading her legs apart from each other. Her head leaned back in pleasure when she suddenly felt his moist tongue starting to flicker against her clit.

As he sucked and licked her moist opening, he could hear her small pleasurable moans throughout the quiet kitchen.

Her hand traveled to her heaving chest. She started to slowly unbutton her black blazer and then her white collared shirt underneath it. Afterwards, she had begun to squeeze her huge perky breasts through her red lace bra. Her moans had gotten louder when she felt him shoving his fingers inside of her while he licked her soak and wet entrance.

As he placed his fingers in and out of her quicker, he suckled her opening harder.

She cried out in a loud and unbelievable orgasm, "Oh God! Shadow!" When she thought she couldn't take anymore of Shadow's teasing, she saw him stand from the floor. She pulled him closer to her as he continued to shove his fingers inside of her

He leaned over to her and pulled her into another passionate kiss. While they kissed, he took his free hand to start undoing the zipper to his pants. He took one of her hands and forced her to stroke his hard member. While she stroked him, he kissed her down to her chest. As he massaged her breasts with his tongue, he felt himself getting harder and harder.

She suddenly felt her hand being taken away from his hard erection. A gasp escaped her as she felt him stroking against her.

He kissed her forehead lightly and whispered lovingly into her ear, "I love you so much, babe."

She had then felt him slowly placing himself inside of her. She gasped as he went deeper and deeper inside of her.

He let out a small moan as he felt her wet and warm walls against his throbbing member. He pushed her body down onto the table and began to thrust himself in and out of her drenched opening.

Her moans got louder with each and every thrust. She wrapped her legs and arms around his body. She bit her lip as he went faster. "Oh God, baby!" She panted heavily, "Fuck me harder!"

He did exactly as she wanted and began to thrust even harder.

Before she knew it, she felt a sudden warm rush splashing inside of her. A warm smile formed on her face as she panted in exhaustion.

They both laid there in each other's arms not wanting to let go of each other.

A few days later, it was early that morning at Rouge's house.

Rouge was in the living room sitting on the sofa watching the news. As she listened to the news reporter, she heard the news woman discussing multiple robberies that had been happening within Tech City. She took her mind away from the television when she saw Shadow coming downstairs and into the living room.

The hedgehog glanced over to the television and then back to Rouge. "Another robbery?"

She made a small nod, "Yup." She picked the remote off of the small table that was setting in front of her and used it to turn off the television. "That's like the fourth one this week."

Shadow placed his finger to his chin, "The cops will handle it."

Rouge slowly shifted her eyes away from him. It appeared that Shadow wasn't at all concerned with the increased robberies that had picked up since the agency was destroyed. "…Yeah."

"Hey, babe? Can I talk to you for a bit?"

"Sure, hun." She watched as he sat down on the sofa beside her. "What's up?"

He bit his lip before he began to tell her what was on his mind. "I've been thinking a lot since the funeral and all."

"What about?"

"Everything. About the team, what we're going to do to get everyone back together, our future…"

She saw him reach out to her and held her hand. She looked up at him and looked into his eyes.

"…About us."

Her heart raced and her hand began to slightly shake. What was going on? Why was he suddenly saying all of these things? "…Us?"

By the way he was hesitating, he seemed more nervous than her. "We've been through so much together, Rouge. I wouldn't be where I am without you."

Her nervous look had calmed a bit as he confessed his feelings for her.

"Even when we first met, you were stubborn. You put up with me and my bullshit on a daily so much and for so long. You never gave up on me and I love you so much. "

Her warm smile had widened on her face, "…Me too, Shadow."

"But…"

Her heart raced once again with a bad and nervous feeling.

"I know you want to have children someday but because of what I am…I can't give you a family if we ended up together."

She was aware that Shadow had demon blood flowing inside of him. She knew that demons couldn't get sick or even conceive. Shadow was a half demon and now in his thirties, the chances of having a baby with him were little to none. She made a small nod, "…I know. We've had this conversation before."

He felt like he couldn't look her in the eyes because it had hurt the both of them knowing that they might could never have their own child.

"…It's all right though. We can just adopt."

"But you don't want that. I know you don't."

What he was saying to her was true. She didn't truly want to adopt. If she had a child, she wanted it to be her flesh and blood.

"…I could never make you truly happy."

"Shadow", she spoke. "Like you said, we've been through so much crazy shit together, but we'll get through it like we've always had." She gently placed her hand on his cheek and made him face her. "If it's one thing I know I'm sure about, it's that I don't want to live a life without you being apart of it."

He made a small and warm smile before he began to search around in the pocket of his black jacket.

Rouge's eyes widened as she caught sight of a small black box he had held in the palm of his hand. She watched him open the box to reveal a silver ring with a huge diamond setting at the top of it. The ring was so beautiful, just looking at it brought tears to her eyes. "…Oh my God", she sniffed softly as she tried to fight back her tears.

He began to take the ring out of the box, "Rouge The Bat…"

A tear fell down her cheek as he began to propose to her.

He looked into her eyes that was swollen in tears, "I want to wake up with you every morning. I want to provide for you and to always keep you safe. I want to spend every waking moment with you for the rest of my life."

She never thought that this moment would ever happen between them.

He kissed her hand lovingly, "I want to reunite the Chaotix team just like before but this time, I want you closer to me." He looked back into her watery eyes, "Rouge, will you marry me?"

With more tears streaming down her face, she nodded repeatedly, "Yes! Yes I'll marry you!" She watched as he took the ring and slid it onto her finger. She pulled him into a tight embrace with tears running down her face in happiness.

**Author's Note: Yay! The story's first lemon scene! I was quite proud of this one! I didn't do bad for not writing one in awhile. Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story! I'm loving all of your support! You guys rock!**

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Margaret: Shadow said what?**

**Charmy: He wants everyone together for a mandatory meet up...**

**Margaret: Are you going?**

**Charmy:…**

**Zena: Hey no fair! These nerds got here first!**

**Nack: Who the hell are these guys?**


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

A week later, it was early in the afternoon. With the exception of increased number of robberies happening throughout Tech City, things had been fairly quiet especially with the Chaotix detectives.

At Margaret's house, Margaret was in the kitchen putting away the clean dishes that she had just washed. She glanced behind her and saw Charmy who was sitting at the kitchen table with a screwdriver in his hand. She noticed that he was taking apart a blender and then putting it back together. She sighed heavily, "Why do you keep taking my blender apart and putting it back together?"

His eyes glanced over to her and then had focused back on the blender, "…It keeps me busy."

"That's your third time doing it though."

"…So what?" He spoke in a bitter tone.

When she realized that he wasn't in the best of mood, she wanted to talk to him more. She wanted him to open up to her. "You're not working on any new inventions?"

"Why bother? I have no reason to."

She gave the bee a nervous look. Ever since the incident, she noticed that there was a drastic change in his attitude and it worried her. "…I see." While she continued to put away the dishes, she heard Charmy speak out to her.

"…I'm meeting up with the team tomorrow."

She turned back to the bee with a shocked expression on her face. "Wha? Shadow? And the rest of the Chaotix?"

He made a slow nod, "Yeah. Where the agency used to be."

"Everyone had been apart from each other for weeks. Why the sudden get together?"

The bee shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. Shadow sent out a text to everyone and said that the meet up was mandatory."

She blinked in disbelief that Shadow had wanted to meet up with everyone especially when it had been so long when everyone had last seen each other. "What could he possibly want to talk about?"

He tightened his grip upon the screwdriver he was holding. "…Who knows."

Later that day, Nack was bolding walking up a fairly big bank. He stood in front of the huge double doors and sighed in frustration. He turned and yelled back at the two figures walking behind him. "Maxcell! Zena! Hurry up!"

The brown male chipmunk and green squirrel rushed over to the impatient purple weasel.

Nack gritted his teeth angrily at the two. "You two are impossible! I hope you two had some kind of sense when you were following around that damn android I built!"

After his comment, Zena had remembered back when she, Maxcell, and Appex had took orders from their previous leader Lance, who they later discovered was a robot built by Nack.

She quietly whispered over to Maxcell, "I'm starting to question who was nicer to us. Lance or Nack?"

"I think the robot had more sympathy than Nack", the chipmunk whispered back with a chuckle.

The two were then silenced by Nack's yelling.

"Shut up! Now listen! We've been doing good with these robberies ever since the Chaotix has been off of our dicks! Let's keep this shit up!"

The two watched as Nack stormed inside of the bank. They went on to follow behind him. When they got inside, they saw Nack standing at the doorway with his mouth hung open while he stared at two other figures standing across from him.

"What's going on?" Maxcell studied the two figures who were standing in front of the bank teller counter pointing strange guns at the woman behind the counter.

One of them was an orange male beaver and other was a male brown monkey. They both appeared to be around their early twenties.

Nack angrily stomped his foot to the floor. "What? I don't believe this! Someone beat us here!"

The beaver nervously looked over to the monkey while he never took the gun away from the frightened woman behind the counter. "What's going on, Damon? Who are they?"

The monkey looked at the group standing in front of them in annoyance. "Who knows and who cares, Razi? All I know is we were here first!"

"What!" Zena shouted in disbelief, "Don't you nerd wingers got a date with Dungeons and Dragons or something?"

"Yeah!" Maxcell added, "You have no business here!"

Damon arched an eyebrow towards them, "You have no room to talk! You filthy street people! We were here first so go rob some other bank!"

"Why don't you go rob some other bank!" Zena shouted back.

"First come first serve, losers!" Razi spat back.

The people who were standing around in the bank were awkwardly listening to them exchanging insults back and forth. They didn't know whether to run and scream or stay put because they were still armed and considered dangerous.

"What!" Nack shouted full of anger.

"With our superior minds and talents, Razi and I will have the entire world eating out of our hands and we won't let people like you get in the way!" Damon pointed his gun at Nack.

Before Nack could move, Maxcell and Zena prepared to fight the two as they drew handguns from their pockets.

They were suddenly stopped when they heard multiple police sirens outside of the building.

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Razi's head, "Oh crap!"

"This isn't good!" Damon saw a man beginning to yell for help. "Oh shut up!" In annoyance, he took the end of his gun and hit him in the side of his head with it, knocking the man out cold to the floor. Afterwards, he turned to Nack, Maxcell, and Zena in anger. "This is all your fault!"

Zena had pointed to herself, "Our fault?"

Razi began to slowly step back towards the back door. "Uh, Damon? We gotta go…now."

As much as Damon wanted to fight the group standing in front of him, he sighed in an agitated tone, "Fine!"

Nack's mouth hung open when he saw them quickly running out the back door, "Wait a minute! Get back here!"

Maxcell and Zena saw Nack running after the two and quickly followed behind. Once they made it outside, they followed Nack until he had cornered Damon and Razi at the end of a narrow alley.

Nack stood in front of them with his fists clenched, "I got your asses!"

"What do you want with us?" Razi asked in a nervous voice.

"It's just money, you greedy weasel. Go on and take it", Damon spoke in a bitter tone.

"I don't want your money." Nack's eyes wandered at the strange guns they had both held. "What kind of guns are those?"

Razi looked down at the gun he held in his hand. "Oh this? These are special laser that have enough juice in them to melt the toughest of material. Steel, metal, titanium…"

Nack placed a finger to his chin in interest, "Where did you get those cool toys?"

"We made them", Razi spoke in a dignified tone.

Damon shrugged his shoulders, "We are geniuses after all."

"Why are a couple of super nerds like you going around robbing banks?" Zena asked.

A smirk appeared on Razi's face, "Because we're evil duh!"

Damon rolled his eyes over at Razi's answer. He crossed his arms, "That and we don't have to worry about those annoying detectives anymore."

"Detectives?" Nack repeated blankly. "You couldn't be talking about those Chaotix fools would you?"

An intrigued look formed on Damon's face, "So we do have something in common…"

"This give me an idea", Nack spoke. "With your intelligence and my amazing leadership, we can turn this city upside down."

Razi arched an eyebrow, "You want us to team up with you and your gang?"

A hesitant appeared on Damon's face, "I don't know. The last time we did a group thing, a motherfucker got himself skinned…literally." He could still remember the gruesome way his friend and ally had died.

"If you work beside me, you'll have so much money and power, you'll be rolling in it." He held out his hand for Damon to shake. "Do we have a deal?"

Damon looked at his hand for awhile before he decided to shake it, "…Deal."

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Tikal: What's wrong with Charmy? He's acting so different…**

**Shadow: That unfortunate day just…happened…**

**Ker: What's going to happen to us?**

**Shadow: We can't let something like this tear us apart. I won't allow it to happen…**


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

It was early in the afternoon the next day in Tech City. The day felt like a warm spring day even though the season was going into the beginning of autumn.

Tikal rushed towards a group of familiar faces that were standing in front of where the old Chaotix building used to be. She couldn't believe that there was no longer anything standing there. She shook out of her thought and focused on the Chaotix team standing there and reunited once again. Once she approached the group, a wide smile formed on her face, "You guys!"

Midnight turned to her with a warm smile, "Tikal, it's so good to see you made it ."

"Same here", the orange echidna agreed.

Tonya placed her hands on her hips, "About time you got here. I told you to leave with Espio, Ker, and I but no, you just had to sleep in."

Tikal glanced around to see if everyone was actually there, "Oh no! Am I late?"

Espio shook his head, "Nope. Apparently we're all here except for Shadow and Rouge."

"I thought Shadow told us all to be here around noonish?" Ker spoke in a confused tone.

Appex crossed his arms and sighed, "How very unprofessional of him."

Tikal had then caught sight of a yellow and black bee who had distanced himself from the group.

The bee looked down at the left over pieces of rubble that were laying in the middle of the spot where the agency once stood. He seemed to be deep in thought as he stared down at the ground until he heard Tikal's voice from behind.

"Charmy?"

His eyes slowly looked over to her and then looked back down at the ground without saying a word.

Judging by his lack of talking, she assumed that he was still upset about what had happened to the agency and Vector. However, she still tried to talk to him. "It's so good to see you again. How have you been?"

"…Fine."

His short and bitter answer had led her to assume that he was definitely not in the mood to talk. She decided to leave him alone. She walked over to Espio who looked like he had witnessed the entire thing that happened between them. "What's wrong with Charmy? He's acting so…different."

Espio made a small yet sad sigh, "Yeah we tried talking to him a bit before you got here but…he's still clearly tore up over Vector."

A saddened expression had formed on her face, "…Oh."

"Yeah, it breaks my heart to see him like this."

She lightly bit her lip as she tried to relate to the terrible time Charmy was having trying to get over Vector's death, "…Me too."

The two were interrupted when they heard Midnight's voice.

"They're finally here!"

Appex turned to see a black and red hedgehog with a white bat woman walking alongside him approaching the group. "It's about time."

"Hey, guys", the hedgehog spoke as he approached the group. "Sorry we're a little late."

Charmy flashed his eyes over at the sight of the hedgehog.

Espio arched an eyebrow, "A little?" He watched as Tonya and Tikal ran over to Rouge and hugged her while squealing in excitement.

Shadow and Espio watched as the girls reunited with each other happily.

"The girls seem pretty happy to see each other huh?" Espio said with a snicker.

"Has it really been that long?" Shadow asked.

"It has been a long ass couple of weeks . Everyone was kinda…spread out you know?"

He made a nod, "Yeah and this is kinda why I wanted to meet with you all today." He turned to the group, "I have quite a few announcements to make as well."

When she saw Shadow standing in front of the group, Rouge stood next to him before be began to start making his announcements.

Shadow sighed heavily before he began to speak. "First off, I want to apologize to all of you for the way I was acting after everything had happened. I was being selfish to you all and it wasn't fair. That day when it happened…I was blaming myself for everything and I couldn't bring myself to face any of you to talk about it. I felt guilty, but I learned that was a natural feeling to have because I know a lot of you felt the same way."

Everyone made a small nod in agreement.

"I learned that it wasn't my fault. It's none of our fault. It just happened. That unfortunate day just…happened."

When she saw him getting emotional as he remembered that awful day the Silver Fangs attacked, Rouge held Shadow's hand and leaned her head on his shoulder for comfort.

Shadow continued, "But we can't let something like this destroy the rest of our lives. Vector may be gone but his spirit lives on within all of us. We can't let this tear us apart."

Tears swelled in Tonya's eyes as she listened to Shadow's encouraging speech.

"He had a vision…a dream. He wanted to make a difference in this world. I won't let his dream die with him…I won't", he spoke in a firm tone.

Ker had decided to speak, "But what's going to happen? What'll we do?"

"…It'll be rough at first, but we'll start over. We'll rebuild the agency and continue to do what we've always done best. To serve and help people who are in need." Shadow replied.

Tikal found it hard to believe that they could just simply rebuild the agency with ease. "Start…over?"

Midnight scratched the back of his hand uneasily. "That kinda seems like a lot of…work."

"Yeah", Appex agreed. "Just look around. There's nothing left."

Everyone sounded so discouraged about the idea, but Espio was determined to get everyone to stay positive. "Come on, guys. Like Shad said, it'll be hard at first but we can do it and it'll be better than ever." He turned to the hedgehog, "Right , Shad?"

He made a small smile with a nod.

"So does this mean…Shadow will…" Tonya began.

Shadow made a nod towards the purple cat. "That's right. I'll be managing the Chaotix." He then turned to the rest of the group. "That is if you all will give me the chance to be your leader."

The red porcupine shrugged his shoulders, "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah", Espio spoke. "I thought you were already our leader?" When he saw Shadow warmly smile at him, he gave him the same warm smile back.

Rouge saw the look on everyone's faces and was relieved and happy that everyone had agreed with what Shadow had wanted to do to rebuild the Chaotix.

Ker turned to Charmy happily, "I'm so happy we're all going to become a team again."

Charmy was the only one in the group who didn't seem at all excited about the new changes Shadow had in store for everyone. "…Yeah."

Tikal clasped her hands together in excitement. "You don't know how happy I am to know that we're all reuniting again."

"I'm so excited", Tonya spoke. "Everything will be just like old times."

Rouge had gotten Shadow's attention when she slightly tightened her grip on his hand. "Maybe you should tell them that other thing", she spoke in a whisper.

He then realized that was the perfect moment to make their huge announcement. He turned back to the group, "…Well, not everything."

Everyone paused and turned to Shadow in confusion.

"I have another announcement", he began as Rouge leaned against his body and nuzzled her head against his chest. "Rouge and I are getting married."

"Wha?" Ker was practically speechless for words.

"No way!" Midnight exclaimed.

"It's about time!" Espio added.

Tonya and Tikal's mouths hung open when Rouge had flashed her engagement ring that was on her finger.

Tonya felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from the glistening diamond that was attached to the ring. "Wow! What a rock!"

Tikal admired the ring as well, "So beautiful!"

"I know right! I'm so happy!" Rouge spoke with a wide warm smile on her face.

Espio walked over to Shadow while everyone else was looking at Rouge's engagement ring. "I'm happy for you, Shad. I'm glad you broke out of your emo funk. I don't know if you noticed, but we all need you."

He made a small nod, "I realize that now. It's what Vector would've wanted me to do. To take care of everyone."

"…Yeah." He then saw Shadow look up towards the light blue sky.

"I don't believe in Heaven or Hell but I just know that somewhere Vector's looking out for us."

Espio looked up into the sky as well and sighed. "He sure is, Shad. He sure is."

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Zena: You idiots!**

**Razi: I don't understand how could this have happened…**

**Nack: No one will dare to stop us!**

**Damon: There could be one problem…**

**Nack: If you catch hint of that damn hedgehog, you turn him into demon shit!**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Later that afternoon, Nack, Zena, and Maxcell had made their agreement to work alongside Damon and Razi.

Nack had decided to make Razi's basement their base of operations since it was already equipped with all kinds of technology and the room was quite big.

Razi was sitting in a black desk chair with his feet propped up on a small table setting in front of him. He held a small cup that was full of soda in his hands. He leaned back in the chair as he relaxed himself. He sipped some of the soda through the straw of the cup. "You know since we're working together now, we need a new evil group name."

Maxcell was sitting with Zena and Nack as he helped them count a small table full of money. "…Evil group name?"

Damon rolled his eyes while he watched the news on the small television that set in front of him while he sat on a black leather sofa. "Come on, Razi. Let's not be lame again."

"No I'm serious. Forming a new alliance with these guys are the new chapter in our lives, Damon", he spoke in an excited tone.

Zena rose an eyebrow towards the orange beaver. She wasn't really into giving themselves a group name. "Well what do you suggest we name ourselves?"

Everyone practically jumped when they heard Nack slamming down a thick stack of money onto the table.

"The Raiders", he simply spoke with a smirk. "We're calling ourselves The Raiders."

"The Raiders huh?" Zena spoke in interest.

"I like it", Maxcell spoke.

Damon crossed his arms as he didn't care very much for the name. "Better than our old name."

"What was your old name?" Maxcell asked.

Before Damon could answer him, he was taken by surprise by a sudden news report that came on the television. "You, guys", he called. "You need to watch this."

Everyone quickly gathered on the leather sofa and paid close attention to the news woman.

The news woman was discussing all of the robberies that had been happening for the past few weeks.

Everyone gasped in shock as the news woman brought up Razi and Damon's names and their past history of when they and another man had committed different crimes together.

Maxcell slowly turned to Damon and Razi with a snicker. "The Villains? Seriously? You called yourselves…" He was practically shoved off of the sofa when Nack angrily leaned over to the two.

"You idiots!" The weasel spat. "You were reckless during that last robbery!"

Razi shrugged his shoulders as he tried to figure out how they had gotten so much information on them, "I don't understand how this could've happened."

"You idiots said your names at least three times in front of an ass ton of people!" Zena exclaimed.

Damon face palmed himself as he remembered that he and Razi did indeed mention their names, "Aw shit."

"So they know who we are? Big deal!" Razi spoke.

"What do you mean big deal? They know where we are! We're in your fucking house!" Zena shouted.

Razi had seemed not at all concerned that the police would find out where they were hiding. "Do not worry." He walked over to his laptop that was sitting on a fairly big desk . He began to type on the keyboard. "Just in case something like this would happen, I took the liberty in camouflaging my entire house when my grandmother passed away last year."

Nack looked at the front of the house that was on the screen of the computer monitor.

"Now you see it…"

In disbelief, Nack saw the entire house vanish like nothing was even there.

"Now you don't." The beaver spoke with a smirk.

Nack nodded his head as he became impressed with him. "Invisibility? Nice!"

As Maxcell's eyes wandered around the room of the basement, he soon caught sight of an old looking and thick brown book that was setting on a small table across from him. He picked the book up and studied it. He looked at the front and back cover of the book but couldn't find the title of it. He looked over to Razi, "Hey Razi, what's this?"

The beaver practically had a heart attack as he witnessed the chipmunk holding the strange book in his hands. He quickly walked over to him and snatched the book away from him. "Hey! Be careful with that! It's dangerous!"

"What? Does it give you killer paper cuts?" Maxcell joked.

Damon looked over to Razi who held the book in his hands. "Yo Razi, don't you think you should tell our new friends your special talent?"

Nack rose an eyebrow towards the beaver, "…Special talent?"

Razi sighed heavily before he began to explain himself. "Fine. This book is a demon summoning book. I've been studying the art of summoning for some time now. I'm not an expert but I can summon almost any demon I want."

Nack, Maxcell, and Zena gave Razi the quietest and longest stare before someone had actually spoken up.

Nack placed a finger to his chin, "So you're trying to tell me you can summon demons?"

Razi made a slow nod, "Except for Almas or massive herds of demons."

Maxcell and Zena seemed quite disturbed with Razi's special skill but Nack on the other hands had gotten intrigued with it.

"You? Summoning demons? Who knew?"

Razi made an uneasy smile. He figured Nack didn't believe him but he thought who could blame him? "Uh yeah."

He made an evil smirk, "That settles it then."

Razi gave the purple weasel a blank look.

"No one will dare try to stop us. Not the military, the police, or even low rank meddlesome detectives."

"Nack" Damon spoke. "Just because we haven't heard anything new with the Chaotix, it doesn't mean they're off our backs."

"True", Nack's eyes had then wandered over to Razi. "However, if you ever catch hint of that fucking hedgehog, you make sure his ass is demon shit!"

Razi had only practiced the summoning but never fully accomplished it. It made him nervous now that Nack knew of what he could probably do. Now the entire group were counting on him if things went bad. He wasn't determined to fail them. He held the book tighter in his hands, "Yes, sir!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: Everything's finally coming together**

**Tikal: Do you need any help?**

**Charmy: I'm busy**

**Tikal: Everyone just seems so busy…I feel so…alone…**


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

A month passed by quickly it seemed while the Chaotix team remained busy setting up their new headquarters almost day by day. It was late that warm afternoon. A gentle breeze had blown causing some of the colorful autumn leaves to fall off the trees.

Tikal stood in front of a huge building that wasn't completely finished yet. She gazed at the detective building in admiration.

The building was a lot bigger than the old one. This one now had two floors instead of one.

Tikal had remembered that Shadow mentioned that the agency wouldn't be completely finished until another month. She like everyone else was thrilled to see it when it would be officially done. With a wide smile on her face, she walked through the two entrance doors of the building. Once she stepped inside, she looked around and thought that outside of the building looked more finished than the inside .

Inside of the main lobby was practically nothing except for a few chairs and tables here and there. The walls had nothing on them as well. It just looked like a giant white and empty room.

She imagined if the downstairs looked empty, she could imagine the top floor being even more empty looking. Her thought were interrupted when she heard Rouge's voice call out to her.

"Oh hey, Tikal!"

The orange echidna spun around to face the white bat woman who was approaching her. "Oh Rouge, hi!" Her eyes caught sight of Rouge's new attire.

She wore a skin tight long sleeve purple collared shirt that revealed much of her massive cleavage. She had her sleeves rolled up slightly passed her elbows. She also wore a long black skirt that had a slit that revealed much of her leg, and black high heeled shoes.

"You're wearing the new uniform shirt."

Rouge rolled her eyes when she didn't seem very thrilled with the new uniform idea. "We all are. Shadow made it mandatory yesterday."

Tikal looked around and saw that everyone else was wearing similar attire. The shirts were the same but just different colors.

Espio's collared shirt was blue but he modified it by taking off the sleeves of the shirt, making it sleeveless. He wore the shirt open but he wore a black turtleneck vest underneath. He wore blue jeans and his original purple and black shoes.

Tonya wore her same long sleeve white collared shirt with black skinny jeans, and black dress shoes.

Charmy wore a yellow long sleeve collared shirt, blue shorts, and his same orange and white shoes.

Appex wore an orange long sleeve collared shirt. He wore his shirt unbuttoned just as Espio. He had on a blue t shirt underneath it, black fitted pants, and white and yellow shoes.

Midnight wore a brown long sleeve collared shirt, white skinny jeans, and knee high black boots with silver buckles going down the front of them.

Ker wore a black long sleeve collared shirt, black dress pants, and black dress shoes.

Tikal turned back to Rouge, "I like it, but why the sudden uniforms?"

"In Shadow's words, he wanted to go for a more professional look." When Rouge heard the door slam from the backroom, she looked to turn to a black and red hedgehog approaching them with an orange extension cord in his hand.

"Hey babe, can you help me for a sec?" His eyes looked over to Tikal who was giving him a friendly smile. "Oh hey, Tikal."

"Hi, Shadow." She noticed that he wore the new uniform shirt as well. She studied his new attire.

Shadow now wore a long sleeve red collared shirt, black skinny jeans with a wallet chain hanging on the left side of his jeans, a gun holster was on the right side of his leg, and he wore black and white sneakers.

"How are things?"

"Busy as usual", he answered. "Trying to get everything set up and all."

The orange echidna nodded and glanced around the room once more, "Things are looking great so far."

"Thanks." He turned to Rouge and held the extension cord up at her. "Assistance please? Since Espio probably ran off somewhere to make out with Tonya."

She placed her hands on her hips and sighed heavily, "Sure, hun."

Shadow flashed his eyes over to her and lightly pinched her sides, "Hey don't get snippy with me, woman."

She playfully smacked his hand away from her and giggled, "I'll get snippy if I want to."

Tikal couldn't help but to smile as the two casually flirted with each other. When Shadow had announced his engagement to Rouge, Tikal was more than happy for the two. Before the two could walk off, Tikal had spoke up. "Uh hey, Shadow?"

He quickly spun around to turn to her.

"Do you need any extra help? I'm not doing much of anything today."

He shook his head, "No thanks, Tikal. I have enough people in here as it is."

"…Okay." She watched as Shadow and Rouge made their way to the backroom. She didn't want to leave. There had to be someone she could spend time with. She looked over to Ker, Midnight, and Appex who were brining in more furniture into the lobby. She smiled at the sight of them and decided to see if they needed any of her help. "Hey, guys! You need any help?"

Appex turned to her. "Nope. We're good."

"Are you sure? That stuff looks really heavy."

Appex pointed at Ker and Midnight who stood behind him, "Um yeah. I'm getting help from an artificial being and a demon. I think we're okay."

Tikal sighed in disappointment and was thinking about just leaving until she spotted Charmy who was carrying a red toolbox into the garage of the building. She had wanted to ask him if he needed any help. She walked up to him trying to put a friendly smile on her face. "Hey, Charmy…" Her words trailed off as the bee spoke without even turning to her .

"I'm busy", he spoke in a bitter tone.

She stopped and watched as he used his wings to fly away from her. She stood in the middle of the lobby saddened because she thought no one had wanted her around.

Later on, Tikal had roamed around the streets of the city. She looked around and saw people laughing and talking with each other as they walked around her. She stopped in her tracks and thought about how everyone was acting towards her today. 'Everyone is just so busy…or is that the real excuse? Is it because I'm not really apart of their team? Do they not want me around?' She wanted to cry because for the first time in a long time, she felt alone. When she tried to fight back her tears, she leaned her head against a window of a building near her. When she decided to take her head away from the glass, she looked up at the sign that was in front of the store. The sign had read 'Magic and Stuff.' She figured it was some type of fantasy shop. She seemed interested and decided to check into it.

When she stepped into the dull lighted store, she glanced around and saw bookshelves full of books, glass jars full of strange items and different necklaces and charms that were displayed in a glass case of the counter. She began to walk around the store even more. "Hello?" She called. It took a matter of seconds before a female voice had answered her.

"Oh hello there."

Tikal turned and saw a dark woman figure appear out of the backroom. She studied the woman more and saw that she was a black bat woman. Her eyes widened at the sight of her.

She looked like the spitting image of Rouge. She had even looked around Rouge's age. She had straight black hair that stopped a little past her shoulders. Her red eyes had matched her eye shadow. She wore a black long sleeve halter top, black tight pants, and black dress shoes with a small heel to them. She gave the echidna a friendly look, "I didn't hear you come in. You need help finding anything?"

Tikal broke out of her daze and tried not to stare so much. "Um, no. I'm just…browsing." She looked around the small shop and didn't see anyone else in the store. She was the only one in there at the moment it appeared.

"I see. You into magic?"

She wanted to tell her that she was more than familiar with all kinds of magic, spells, and anything to do with the supernatural but no one besides the Chaotix knew of her special abilities. She appeared to be an eighteen year old girl but in reality, she was over five thousand years old. She just shrugged her shoulders, "…A little."

"It's nice to have someone who appreciates a little bit of it. Many people think it's just a load of nonsense."

"Oh no not me! I love stuff like this." She spoke as she admired the necklaces and charms in the glass display of the counter. "What kind of stuff do you get into?"

The bat woman sighed heavily, "I used to be big and bad with the dark arts but I learned you don't always get what you desire with or without magic. So now I just try to go with the flow." She giggled a bit, "It's hard but I'm trying my hardest to ease away from it."

"…It sounds like you've had a rough life." She watched as she sat down at a round wooden table. She decided to sit across from her.

"Tell me about it, sweetie. Magic is all fine and dandy but too much of it can really mess you up."

Just by listening to her, she felt like she could really relate to her and feel her pain.

"Take it from me. You don't want to go there."

She slowly made a nod as she listened to her closely.

"Oh God", she giggled. "I didn't mean to get all emo on you."

"Oh no! No! Not at all! You're very brave to face your mistakes and learn from them. It must was really hard for you."

A saddened expression had formed on her face. "Yeah especially when you have to face them alone."

"Oh no!"

She suddenly felt Tikal's hand being placed on top of hers.

"No one should ever have to face something so dark alone."

The saddened look had slowly faded from her face. "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine."

Just hearing her compliment her made her form a warm smile.

"You know what? You're the first person I've ever had this kind of conversation with. It's…nice."

"Nice is my middle name you know?" She giggled.

"You think I could get a first name?"

"Of course! My name is Tikal."

She rested her head on his hand as she leaned against the surface of the table. "It's so pretty and unique too."

"Thanks! What about you?"

The warm and inviting smile had remained on her face as she began to tell Tikal her name. "My name is Nails. Nails The Bat."

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Rouge: I just feel like we were all neglecting her…**

**Midnight: We should've treated her better.**

**Nails: I'm sure your friends mean well.**

**Tikal: Oh! I would love for you to meet everyone!**

**Nails: Well, well isn't this a surprise…**


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

The next day, it was early in the afternoon. The Chaotix team were taking a much needed break after they had a long morning of moving new furniture in and around within the building.

Appex tiredly leaned against a bar counter with a cup of coffee in his hands. "So tired…" He spoke within a yawn.

"Tell me about I", Tonya agreed as she sat on a black crate on the floor. "We've definitely been slaving over this place."

Ker was leaning against a huge desk beside Shadow. "But look around. We're doing such a good job." He turned to the hedgehog, "Aren't we, Shadow?"

The hedgehog took a sip from his coffee mug and made a small nod. "Absolutely. At this rate, we'll be done in no time."

Espio was sitting across from Rouge at a small table. He noticed that she appeared to have a lot on her mind and it put her in a depressed mood. "Hey you good, bat girl?"

The bat woman snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Espio call out to her. "Huh?"

Espio once again repeated himself, "You okay? You're acting like someone ran over your puppy."

Her eyes traveled down to the coffee mug she held in her hands while it set on the surface of the table. "It's just…I feel bad for what happened yesterday."

Tonya arched an eyebrow in confusion, "What did happen yesterday?"

She looked up at the group, "Tikal", she spoke. "I felt like we were neglecting her or something. She seemed so sad."

Everyone had then realized what had happened yesterday while they were working. They all suddenly felt bad as they remembered how they had treated her.

"Holy crap!" Appex spoke, "I was acting like a total douche bag to her and all she wanted to do what was help."

Shadow sighed heavily as he remembered how short he was being towards her. "And I acted like I had a one track mind because I was so caught up in my work."

"We should've treated her better", Midnight spoke.

Tonya placed a finger to her chin. She wasn't there at the time when Tikal had visited them yesterday, "All that went on yesterday? No wonder she came home so late last night."

"She did?" Rouge asked in worry, "Is she okay?"

Tonya shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I barely saw her this morning. She left in such a hurry, I barely had a chance to say hi to her."

Rouge felt worse and worse as horrible thoughts ran inside of her head. "Poor Tikal! She's so lonely!"

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw Rouge's head hit the surface of the table in sadness.

Charmy arched an eyebrow towards her behavior.

Shadow stood beside her and uneasily rubbed her back. "Calm down, Rouge. I'm sure she's fine."

Rouge took her head away from the table and turned to Shadow with a hopeful look.

Shadow turned to the rest of the group, "Look, we're all just tired and cranky. The next time Tikal walks through those doors, we'll treat her like a fucking princess."

Everyone nodded and smiled in agreement.

Later on at a pizza restaurant, Tikal was sitting across from Nails at a table. The two were laughing and talking while they were sharing a large pizza with each other.

Tikal giggled as she listened to Nails' story. "And what did you end up doing when you found out?"

The bat woman took another slice of pizza, "I was so pissed, I turned his dick into a pickle."

The echidna rose an eyebrow in disbelief, "…A pickle?"

"Not just any pickle. A really squishy and soft pickle." She explained before eating off from the slice of pizza she held in her hands.

The both of their laughter carried throughout the small restaurant. Many people could hear their strange conversations and got disturbed by it.

Tikal had laughed so much, her stomach was starting to hurt as Nails told her stories of some of her ex boyfriends. "Oh my God! Nails, you're awful!"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Hey he was a total jerk." She arched an eyebrow towards Tikal, "What about you, hun?"

She looked at her with a blank look, "Huh?"

"You've had any jerky exes in your life?"

Tikal paused and realized that she had never grew close to anyone in that kind off way before. She never really had an official interest she had taken in anyone. "Well", she began. "I actually never really had a romantic interest with anyone."

Nails looked at her in disbelief, "Get outta here! No one?"

She shook her head with an uneasy smile on her face.

"Not even a little innocent crush?"

"Nope!"

She crossed her arms and legs as she became interested in Tikal's personal love life. "Let me guess. You're a virgin too?"

"Yeah", she answered with a light blush on her face.

"Wha? I can't believe this! You're a total saint!"

She couldn't help but to form a sly smile on her face, "Heh, something like that."

"You're such a sweetheart. I bet all of your friends are like in love with you."

Her smile faded as she shrugged her shoulders, "…Yeah I suppose."

Nails noticed her sudden change in mood, "Oh I know that look. Trouble in paradise?"

"Oh no, no nothing like that. I'm on good terms with all of my friends. It's just they've been so busy lately and it seems like they just don't have enough time for me", she explained.

"I'm sure they mean well. They just got a lot on their plate right now."

"Yeah I could never be angry with them. They've done so much for me and a lot of people."

"They sound like good hearted people."

Suddenly Tikal was hit with a sudden idea, "Hey I can totally introduce you to them! I just know they'll love you!"

She made a warm smile towards her. "Okay, sweetie. I'd totally love to meet your friends."

Later on, the Chaotix team were still working on setting up the lobby. They all had immediately stopped when they saw Tikal walking through the doors.

Before Tikal could say anything, everyone ran up to her happily. She was hugged tightly by Rouge.

"Oh Tikal, I'm so glad you're back!"

She rose an eyebrow by everyone's sudden behavior. Yesterday they acted like she didn't exist and today they were all over here. Perhaps they noticed how distant they were being with her and felt bad for it. "I wasn't gone for the entire day."

Rouge pulled away fro her, "I know but me and the guys were talking and we agreed that we should've paid more attention to you."

"Yeah, Tikal", Shadow spoke as he walked over to them. "You will always be apart of this family. Don't ever forget that."

A wide smile formed on Tikal's face. "I'm so glad you all feel that way. You make me so happy."

"We're glad, honey", Tonya spoke with a warm smile.

"What have you been up to anyway? We've barely seen you all day." Rouge spoke.

"Oh! I met someone just yesterday. She and I have grown really close to each other", Tikal explained.

Rouge clasped her hands together happily, "Oh you made a friend? I'm so happy for you, hun."

Espio murmured over to Shadow, "About time. Between her and Ker in the house, I barely have any alone time with Tonya."

Shadow had agreed that Tonya's house was always busy with her, Tikal, and Ker living under one roof.

Everyone watched as a black bat woman walked through the doors and stepped into the lobby. Speechless, everyone stared at the familiar woman.

The black bat gave the group the same shocked expression.

Tikal still had an excited look on her face, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Nails."

Nails' shocked expression had then formed into a sly one. She crossed her arms as she stood in front of the group of shocked detectives. "Well, isn't this a surprise. Long time no see…"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Tonya: Tikal! Get away from her!**

**Tikal: What's going on?**

**Rouge: It's been a long time…sister…**

**Nails: Just let me explain…**

**Shadow: You'd better start making some sense before I blow you to bits!**

**Tikal: Shadow, no!**


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

Tikal looked back at Nails and the group of detectives that stared each other down. Judging by the way they looked at each other, she had a feeling that they had already met. "…You know each other?" Suddenly, her body was practically dragged away from Nails by Tonya. "Hey! What's going on?"

"Get away from her, Tikal!" Tonya held the confused echidna close to her, "She's dangerous!"

"Wha? No! She's not…" Before she could start explaining, she saw Espio reaching out to her.

Espio placed his hand under her chin and made her look at him. "Holy shit! She charmed her with her black magic!"

Tikal jerked Espio's hand away from her, "What? What on Mobius are you talking about?"

"Hold on! Just let me explain…" When Nails tried to get close to Tikal, Rouge had stood in front of her.

Rouge gave Nails a hateful look. "You stay the hell away from her!"

Nails stopped in her tracks and formed a smirk towards the white bat. "Baby sister, it's so good to see you again."

Tikal's mouth practically dropped to the floor as she looked back and forth at Rouge and Nails. "…You two…"

"I didn't know you were good friends with my little sister." Nails spoke while she never took her eyes away from Rouge.

"Oh you're a whole year older than me! Big freakin' whoop!"

Shadow pulled Rouge away from Nails and decided to handle the situation. He stood in front of her while giving her a cold glare. "What are you doing here? How did you get out of prison?"

Nails placed her hands on her hips, "I got released early for good behavior." Her eyes widened when she saw him take out a handgun that he had in the holster around his leg.

"That's the biggest load of bull I've ever heard!"

Tikal gasped in horror at the sight of Shadow pointing the gun at Nails. "Shadow, no!"

Despite Tikal's pleas, he didn't move his finger off the trigger. "You better start making some fucking sense before I blow your brains all over that wall!"

Nails sighed heavily in frustration, "I'm trying to tell you! I got out early after some day to day counseling I took back at the prison. Once I got out, I decided to change my life around and stop using black magic. Now I only want to use magic to help people with their problems."

Shadow arched an eyebrow, "Oh really? You? Giving up black magic and making men your slaves?"

"Oh absolutely! I discovered that I was obsessed with dark power. It drove me mad. I had to stop."

Rouge refused to believe Nails' story. "Please! Let me guess you gave up your helpless obsession with Shadow too?"

She nodded repeatedly, "Actually yes."

Espio shook his head, "I don't believe her."

Shadow had to agree with him, "Me neither. What are you supposed to be now exactly?"

"Gay."

Just hearing her answer made Shadow drop his gun to the floor. "…What?"

"It's true! My obsession with men only increased my instability with black magic. Once I learned that dick was evil, I converted over to becoming lesbian."

Shadow was lost for words. He placed a hand on his forehead and turned away from her. "I need to sit the fuck down."

Espio refused to believe that Nails had turned lesbian. "No! No! No!" He confronted the black bat. "You took so much dick, you were practically swimming in it and now you're trying to tell us you're gay?"

She made a nod, "Yup!"

Espio turned to the rest of the stunned detectives. "Does nothing make sense anymore?" He pointed at Shadow who was sitting in a desk chair behind a huge desk. "You wanted his dick! You wanted to plow him backwards and forwards!"

Shadow placed his hand over his mouth in disgust as he remembered his past encounters with Nails. "Dear God, stop. I'm getting nauseas over here."

Nails carelessly shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry but, I'm just not attracted to Shadow anymore or any guy for that matter. I made a vow to myself. No more dick for me."

After hearing Nails say that she had changed, he turned away from her in disbelief as well. "This whole world has gone to Hell."

Tikal was in shock as well. She had no idea that Nails was attracted to women. She heard her talk so much about her ex boyfriends, she thought she clearly like men. Now that she had thought about it, there were little things that Nails had said while they had been hanging out for the past few days together. She even began to think that she had a secret attraction towards her.

Rouge crossed her arms and confronted her sister once again. "Okay Nails, we'll give you the benefit of a doubt for now, but if we catch you doing some shady shit, I'll make sure my fiancé barbeques your ass."

Nails' ears perked up when she heard Rouge's threat. "…Fiancé?" She looked at Shadow and back at Rouge. "You two…are getting married?"

Rouge made a small nod until she was pulled into a sudden hug by her sister.

"Oh my God! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!" She pulled away from her excitedly, "My baby sister's getting married! I always knew you two would end up together! Oh I can't believe it! I can't wait! When's the wedding?"

Rouge's eyes widened in surprise at how well Nails was taking the news of her and Shadow's engagement. She appeared to not be upset at all over the news. Just witnessing the way she reacted, she was beginning to think that Nails really had changed.

Later on that evening at Razi's house, he and the rest of the group were going over their plans for that night in the basement.

Nack held up a piece of paper that showed a picture of a fairly big diamond in front of Damon. "Now are you sure? This diamond is supposed to make us unstoppable?"

Damon made an uneasy look, "Hold up I never said all that. It's an ancient myth claiming that any user who possess the diamond will give them God like strength."

Zena shrugged her shoulders, "Who cares about some stupid ancient myth anyway? If it doesn't work, we can still get rich with it."

"It's true", Maxcell agreed.

Nack dropped the paper to the floor and crossed his arms. "Whatever, we're still doing this tonight."

"Uh I don't know, Nack", Maxcell spoke with an uneasy expression. "This isn't some typical convenient store or a bank. We're hitting up that fancy museum that's probably swarming with security guards."

"Stop worrying. We'll take them out easily", Nack acted like he wasn't concerned with the heavy security at the museum.

"But what if we run into an ass ton of cops or…worse?" Zena had a feeling at the pit of her stomach that they would run into the Chaotix.

Damon formed an evil smirk and looked over to Razi who was sitting at a small desk across from him. "I'm sure that won't be a problem."

Razi had a book laying open on the desk and he had held a strange flute in his hands.

"Do your thing, Razi."

The beaver made a nod and looked down at one of the pages of the book as he began to play the flute.

Everyone watched as a black portal had opened up in the middle of the floor. In a matter of seconds, a hideous tall gray monster had emerged through the portal. The portal faded once the creature stood before the group. With their mouths hung open, they all stared at the creature.

The demon was tall and gray. Its eyes were a dark blue color, it had sharp fangs and claws, and multiple spikes were upon its shoulders.

Everyone remained silent until the creature surprisingly spoke out to them.

"Who summoned me?"

Razi's heart skipped a beat when everyone said nothing and pointed their fingers at him.

The demon turned to him while him while heaving heavily, "You dare call upon me?"

Razi tried not to let the demon intimidate him. He had summoned him so he acted like he was his all powerful master. "That's right", he said in a shaky voice. "I summoned you here to bid for me. You must obey me."

"…Then what is your request?"

He was filled with a strong relief that the demon was indeed cooperating with him. A strike of dominance had fueled him for the first time ever.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Ker: The Villains are back?**

**Shadow: It seems that way.**

**Ker: So about Charmy…**

**Shadow:…What about him?**

**Ker: You mean…you haven't noticed?**

**Nack: Well, well if it isn't my least favorite person in the world!**


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

Later on that night, Tikal was spending time with Nails at her apartment. The two was sitting beside each other on a sofa in the living room discussing about what was going on for the past couple of months with the Chaotix team. They were drinking cups of hot chocolate as they continued to talk with each other.

Nails took a sip from her mug and gave Tikal a look of disbelief, "Vector? Dead?"

The echidna made a small nod.

"H-How could this happen?"

"Well", Tikal began to explain. "Another group of detectives who call themselves the Silver Fangs just showed up and attacked us. The agency was destroyed and Vector didn't make it…"

She was under shock when Tikal had mentioned the Silver Fangs. When she thought of them, the image of Sky had came to her mind. "Sky? He was in on it too?"

She made a nod. She had forgotten that since Nails was Rouge's sister then Sky was also related to her. "He's your cousin too right?"

She nodded, "Yes but of course we're famous for calling each other brother and sister because we always thought we were a lot closer than just cousins." A saddened look formed on her face, "At least I thought so anyway…"

Tikal assumed that Nails was heartbroken as well to know that her cousin had turned against Rouge and her teammates. "…I see."

Nails had wanted to changed the depressing subject of her cousin. "So that's why I didn't recognize the agency building right away. The guys are working on a new one."

Tikal once again made a nod.

"So if Vector's gone, then Shadow must be…"

"Yup! Shadow is officially in charge of the Chaotix twenty four seven!"

"Well good for Shadow. It's a shame what happened though. I bet you all were pretty upset." She took another sip of her hot chocolate.

Tikal made a sad sigh, "Yeah everyone is still trying to adjust."

"It just takes time, hun."

She made a nod, "Yeah." She took another sip from her mug.

"So um, do you think I'm…" Her sentence trailed off when she was trying to think of the right words to say.

"Huh?"

"Tikal, did you believe me when I said I was trying to give up black magic?"

"Of course I do."

Her eyes widened as Tikal simply told her how she felt about the situation without any hesitation. "You do? But how? Everyone else…"

She shook her head, "That's everyone else's perspective of you. They may think you're still an evil witch but I know deep down you've changed."

"How can you tell? You just met me a few days ago."

She placed her mug down to her lap and turned to her with a friendly smile. "Because I can sense the goodness inside of people. That is my gift after all."

Nails couldn't help but to arch an eyebrow in confusion, '…Gift?'

Meanwhile, Shadow was walking down the deserted sidewalk with Ker by his side. "Thanks for patrolling with me tonight, Ker. Since everything happened, it appears that an ass ton of criminals grew a pair of balls and are trying to hit up poorly secured convenient stores and junk."

"It's no problem at all, Shadow. I'm just glad we're finally putting our good detective name back out there again."

Shadow sighed, "Yeah the TCPD is pretty shitty. Anytime they can't catch a couple of super nerds, you know it's bad."

Ker stopped in his tracks as he thought Shadow was bringing up Damon and Razi's names. "You heard about it too?"

Shadow stopped and turned to the demon, "Yeah it's all over the news. Those annoying ass dorks are back causing problems."

"The Villains?"

He made a nod, "Yeah."

When he saw Shadow beginning to walk again, he followed behind him. "What could they be after now?"

"I don't know", he spoke as he placed his hands in his pants pockets. "In the last report about them, some witnesses saw them with a purple weasel guy."

Ker's mouth hung open in shock. "Nack? Do you think they're working with him?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows but it doesn't matter whose involved. They're causing trouble and they need to be stopped before people get hurt or worse."

Ker made a nod as he agreed with him. "You're right." He then noticed that there was a moment of silence between the two. He thought that was the perfect time to bring up another subject. "…So about Charmy…"

Shadow's heart skipped a beat as he brought up Charmy's name. "…What about him?"

Ker once again had stopped walking and gave Shadow a surprised look. "…You mean you haven't noticed?"

Shadow paused and turned to Ker giving him nothing but a silent look.

Ker knew deep down that he knew what he was talking about, but for some reason acted like he didn't know anything about it. "…He's acting completely different. Like you early in the morning when you haven't had your coffee yet and you wanna kill everyone…different…"

He crossed his arms and shifted his eyes away from him in annoyance.

The nervous demon bit his lip lightly. He was afraid that he had turned a concerned conversation into something totally different. "…I mean…"

He sighed heavily, "I know what you mean. And yes, I have noticed Charmy's change of attitude as well."

A sympathetic look had formed on his face, "He's been like that since Vector died and it's been going on for a month now. I'm worried about him."

"Everyone has noticed it and tried talking to him but all he does is shut everyone out. He acts like he's the only one in the world now."

"…Have you tried talking to him? Like in private?"

He made a small nod, "I've tried once but he doesn't want to listen to what I have to say."

"…Like everyone else…"

He shook his head slightly, "Every time when I look at him, he looks at me like…"

Ker suddenly saw a melancholy look on Shadow's face.

"…He hates me…"

Just assuming that Charmy might've thought that what happened to Vector was Shadow's fault, brought tears to his eyes. "…Shadow…" His words were cut off when a sudden explosion was heard near them. "What was that?"

They both gave each other panicked looks before they decided to follow where the loud noise had came from. When they arrived, they found themselves staring at the side of the building.

There was a huge gapping hole in the side of the building.

They both watched as a group of familiar figures stepped out from the side of the building while coughing from the heavy dust that floated in the air.

A green female squirrel wearing goth attire was still coughing from all of the dust. "You idiots!" She coughed, "You didn't have to take out the wall!"

An orange beaver responded while coughing as well. "Well it was either that or crawling back through those narrow vents again! And I refuse to go through that uncomfortable position again!"

Ker looked at the group in shock, "Shadow, is that…"

Shadow angrily fixed his eyes on a male purple weasel standing alongside the group. "…Nack", he growled.

When Nack caught sight of the demon and hedgehog, he formed an evil smirk towards them. "Well, isn't this a surprise! Shadow The Hedgehog, my least most favorite person in the world."

Ker was trying to figure out why Nack was working with Razi and Damon. "What? Nack…and The Villains? Together?"

"Um correction", Damon spoke. "We are no longer The Villains."

"That's right", Razi said. "We are now The Raiders!"

Shadow rose an eyebrow at the group standing in front of him. "…It is still very stupid."

Damon shifted his eyes towards Razi, "…We're just not very good with bad guy names."

"What are you up to?" Shadow demanded.

"Oh nothing really", Nack had then took out a crystal clear big diamond that could fit the palm of his hand. "Just doing some shopping", he chuckled evilly.

"That doesn't belong to you!" Ker shouted. "Give us that diamond or else!"

Nack rose an eyebrow, "Or else what?"

"Or we'll break every damn bone in your bodies", Shadow had threatened.

Nack placed a finger to his chin, "Hm a full demon and a half demon against us? Sounds pretty unfair don't you think? Maybe we should even the odds a little." He turned to Razi, "Razi!"

Shadow and Ker watched in confusion as Razi took out a flute and began to play it.

"What?" Ker said as he looked at the beaver in confusion.

Suddenly Shadow and Ker were startled when they saw a tall gray creature land feet first on top of the hood of a parked car beside them.

The strange creature turned to them with a menacing growl.

Just by looking at the creature, Ker fell to his knees.

"Ker?" Shadow kneeled down beside him to make sure he was all right.

Ker had placed his hand to his chest and began to breathe heavily. "I-I'm okay. That thing…it's a demon."

Shadow looked back at the demon and then back at Ker. "…I feel it too, but what is it? An Almas?"

Ker shook his head as he glared at the demon, "No, this demon is different."

"…What?"

Nack chuckled evilly, "Yes! Now we'll put you wannabe demons to the real test!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Razi: Get rid of them!**

**Ker: This demon is different.**

**Shadow: It's like we're fighting a brick wall!**

**Ker: Shadow, look out!**

**Shadow: Ker, no!**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

Shadow and Ker laid their eyes upon the strange demon who had stood before them.

With an evil smirk on his face, Razi gave the demon an order. "Get rid of them."

"Yes, my master", the demon replied with a growl.

Shadow gasped in surprise as he heard the demon talk, "This demon is different."

Ker was just as surprised as Shadow was, "It talks. It can actually think for itself."

With ease it seemed, the demon had picked up the parked car he had landed on and threw it towards Shadow and Ker.

Shadow's eyes widened as he quickly stood from the ground alongside Ker, "Move it!"

They both scattered and avoided the car the demon had threw at them.

Shadow clenched both of his fists as he saw the demon walk towards them. "I don't care if that thing can juggle, we're taking it down!"

Ker's white eyes had began to glow as he glared at the oncoming demon, "I'm with you, Shadow!" White beams of light had shot from his eyes and blasted at the demon.

The attack looked like it didn't effect him because he was still coming in their direction.

It seemed to have only angered the demon after Ker had attacked him so he began to run towards them.

Ker was taken by surprise that his attack didn't take any effect on him. "What?"

Shadow charged at the demon with a yellow aura forming around his hands, "Chaos Spear!" In shock, he watched as he blocked his attack. He clenched his fist and tried to punch the demon but surprisingly it had caught his fist. "Son of a…"

The demon felt his flesh burning from the sudden green aura forming around Shadow's fist. However, it acted like it wasn't in any real pain. "Is that all you got, hedgehog?"

Shadow gritted his teeth in frustration and used his free hand to send multiple powerful punches into the demon's chest.

Ker had decided to help him.

When the demon saw them both attacking him, the demon used its arm and pushed them away from its body with great strength.

The two of them slid away from him and stood in front of him while panting heavily.

"Damn it", Shadow swore. "His body is so tough, it's like fighting a brick wall."

"Yeah", Ker agreed. "He's pretty tough."

Shadow turned to Ker, "Let's blast him together."

Ker made a nod when he agreed that combining their attack would be a better chance of hurting him. "Okay."

When Shadow's hands started to have a yellow aura around them, Ker's eyes had glowed a bright white. He directed his hand toward the demon, "Chaos Spear!"

The demon's eyes widened when he saw both of them attacking him together. He was knocked back by a great distance when their combined power had struck him.

A relieved look had formed on Shadow and Ker's face as the demon fell to his knees.

Shadow thought the demon was getting weaker, "That did it. Now let's finish him off."

The demon looked over to Nack who held the diamond in his hand. "…Need more power…" He quickly got to his feet and confronted Nack.

Before Nack could say anything, the demon swiped the diamond out of his hand and shoved him to the ground. "Hey! That's mine!"

The demon tightly clenched the diamond in his hand, "Weak mortals such as yourself have no use for this."

"But you can't do this!" Razi shouted, "I'm your master! You must obey me!"

Everyone watched in shock as the diamond had suddenly got absorbed into the palm of the demon's hand.

The demon gave Razi a menacing look, "I don't have a master." All of a sudden the spikes on his shoulders had gotten longer and bigger.

Maxcell's eyes widened when the demon had shot one of the spikes towards them. The spike had missed but it was just enough to scare him out of his wits. "Holy shit! I'm getting out of here!"

The group watched as Maxcell scurried from the scene.

Razi thought it was a good idea to leave as well, "I'm right behind you!"

Zena and Demon followed with Nack screaming behind them.

"You get back here and help me get that diamond back!"

Ker watched as the group ran away. "Shadow, they're getting away!"

"We'll worry about them another time. We have bigger problems", he stood in a fighting stance in front of the demon who had just gotten stronger.

Ker's eyes widened when he saw the demon ejecting a spike from his upper arm. He just knew he had his sights set on Shadow with it. "Shadow, look out!"

Before Shadow could react, Ker had suddenly pushed his body away from the flying spike. When he fell to the ground, he had looked back and saw Ker kneeling to the ground with a spike stabbed in his side. "Ker!"

While he was trying to removed the spike from his side, the demon grabbed Ker by his neck.

While he had his hand around his neck, he stared at Ker in curiosity. "You're a full demon aren't you? You're just like me. Why do you throw your freedom away for pathetic half breeds like that?"

Shadow watched in horror as the demon stabbed another spike into Ker's leg. "Ker!" He looked down and reached for the gun in his holster. He pulled it out and pointed the barrel of the gun at the demon. "You put him down!" He pushed a strange button on the side of the barrel of the gun before he pulled the trigger.

When the bullet fired into the demon's arm, the entire right arm had blown off from the powerful impact.

Ker fell to the ground as the demon yelled in pain. He watched as the demon cried in pain and ran away from them. He saw Shadow running over to him and kneel next to him. "Shadow, he's getting away."

"I blew his fucking arm off, he won't go off too far since I weakened him." He helped Ker off of the ground. Once he got Ker to stand to his feet, he gave him a concerned look. "Are you all right?"

Ker looked down and still saw the spike stabbed into his bleeding leg. He pulled the spike out and tossed it onto the pavement. "I've had worse things stuck in worse places." He glanced at the handgun he held in his hand. "What did you use on that demon anyway?"

"Rouge modified my handgun. She equipped it with explosive burst rounds." He explained as he placed his gun back in his holster.

Ker rose an eyebrow as he was impressed, "Nice!"

"Yeah I fucking love that woman." He began to walk down the sidewalk, "Come on we gotta report this to the others."

Ker nodded and followed behind him.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Espio: We need more info on this demon.**

**Tikal: What about Nails?**

**Nails: I got just the thing!**

**Tikal: I want to go with you!**

**Shadow: No way!**

**Tikal: You can't tell me what to do!**


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

Early the next morning at the Chaotix, Shadow and Ker were informing everyone of the strange demon they had encountered the night before in the lobby.

"How awful", Tonya had said after they had both got done telling her and everyone else what had happened last night. "Thank God you two are okay."

"It's too bad the demon got away", Espio spoke.

"And Nack", Appex spoke bitterly. Just hearing that Nack and his old gang were back out causing trouble again struck a nerve inside of him.

"So no one's heard anything about that demon in the news this morning?" Rouge had asked.

Midnight shrugged his shoulders, "They mentioned something about sightings of a monster with one arm."

Shadow crossed his arms, "That sounds like our guy."

"We have to stop him", Ker spoke.

When Rouge saw Shadow and Ker about to walk out, she stopped them in their tracks, "Hey! Hold on you two!"

Shadow and Ker spun around to the concerned bat woman.

"You can't just walk out and expect to find this thing with your little demon intellect", she explained. "What if you do find this thing again? You got your asses handed to you last night because it absorbed some kind of diamond that we don't know a thing about."

Everyone began to agree with Rouge.

She continued, "What if he got stronger and grew his arm back or something? We don't know what kind of demon it is or where to exactly find him."

Espio had agreed with her. "She's right. We need more info on this thing."

Shadow sighed heavily after when he realized that Rouge had made sense and was right. "Okay you make a point. But where and how are we gonna learn more about this demon?"

Tikal bit her lip in hesitation before speaking out, "How about Nails?"

The room got silent as everyone gave Tikal a long and awkward look.

"…She used to be a pro at dark magic and stuff right? I bet she has some information."

Shadow crossed his arms as he didn't like the idea of going to Nails for help. He still didn't completely trust her. "I don't know, Tikal."

Tikal now wished that she didn't bring Nails' name up. She thought that she had now made an issue about going to her for help.

Tonya didn't like the idea of going to Nails for help either, but even she had to admit that it wasn't too bad of an idea. "I know Nails can't a hundred percent trustworthy right now, but what other lead do we have?"

Shadow sighed in frustration as he knew that going to Nails would probably give them more answers on what they needed to do to find that demon. "Fine."

A small smile formed on Tikal's lips as she noticed that her suggestion had shined a little light on what they had to do. "Great! I'll take you down to her magic shop."

Rouge arched an eyebrow, "Nails has a…magic shop?"

Later in the afternoon, Tikal had taken Shadow, Ker, and Rouge to Nails' shop. She was sitting at a round table with Rouge and Nails while Shadow and Ker were looking around the shop in curiosity.

Shadow was looking at the strange things that were placed in glass jars on the shelf. "I can't believe this."

Ker was glancing through some books about magic and witchcraft. "I know. This is amazing."

Shadow turned to the group, "Why haven't I noticed this place before?"

"Well", Nails began. "This place is located on a not so busy part of the city so I don't get a lot of customers, but once in awhile I do have wandering souls walking in." She made a warm smile towards the orange echidna sitting next to her. "Like Tikal."

A light blush had formed on Tikal's face when Nails mentioned her name.

Rouge rolled her eyes as she just knew that Nails was trying to flirt with Tikal. "Okay Nails, we came here for a reason. Can you help us or not?"

The black bat shrugged her shoulders, "I'll tell you all that I know. What does this demon look like?"

The women turned to Shadow and Ker and waited for them to start describing the demon.

"Well", Ker started, "He was big, gray, bulky."

"Big ass spikes on his shoulders, some even came out of his arms", Shadow added. "He was gross and had skin tougher than Rouge's homemade pound cake."

Rouge flashed her eyes over at the hedgehog and crossed her arms.

"Got it", Nails spoke as she stood from her chair. "I got just the thing."

Rouge watched as Nails walked over to a bookshelf full of books. She turned to Shadow with an arched eyebrow. "I thought you liked my cooking?"

Shadow only gave her an uneasy smile and shrugged his shoulders.

"I found it!" Nails sat back down with the group and placed a big thick book on the surface of the table.

The book looked old and worn and there was no title on it.

Nails began to flip through the pages of the book, "This should be able to tell us what kind of demon we're up against." She had finally stopped turning pages when she came across the same demon Shadow and Ker was describing. She pointed at the picture.

"That's it!" Ker exclaimed. "That's him!"

Rouge studied the demon's appearance, "Oh he is pretty gross looking."

"How do we beat him?" Shadow asked.

"Like you do with most demons. Cut his head off or blow him to pieces", Nails simply answered.

"But he absorbed that diamond that made him stronger." Rouge thought the demon would be twice as powerful with that diamond inside of him.

Nails shrugged her shoulders, "Unfortunately, I don't know a thing about that weird diamond that made him stronger."

Ker bit his lip in worry, "But he was already strong before he got a hold of that diamond and Shadow and I barely made a scratch on him. How are we even going to get near him now?"

"We'll just have to give it our all." Shadow turned to Nails, "Does it give us any hints on where we can find him?"

Nails glanced through the description of the demon, "It says he mostly hangs around graveyards."

Shadow turned to Ker, "The Tech City Cemetery."

Ker nodded towards the hedgehog, "We should go."

"Right." Before he and Ker could leave, they heard Tikal call out to them.

"Wait!" The echidna stood from her chair, "I want to go with you!"

Shadow turned to the echidna in surprise. He had wondered what had made her want to tag along with him and Ker so suddenly. He gave Tikal a firm look. "Tikal, it's too dangerous and you know that. Stay with Rouge and Nails." Before he could turn away from her, he heard Tikal shout at him.

"No!"

Shadow began to grow agitated with Tikal, "Tikal, listen to me!"

She clenched her fists tightly, "No, Shadow! You listen to me!"

Everyone in the room had gotten silent and was surprised by Tikal's sudden outburst.

"You may have the power and authority to tell the detectives what to do but you can't boss me around! You can't tell me what to do!"

Rouge was surprised in Tikal's sudden attitude towards Shadow.

Tikal noticed the annoyed look Shadow had on his face. She knew he was getting angry with how she was talking to him, but she tried not to look intimidated by him. "I'm strong too! I'm not this helpless kid and you know that!"

Ker bit his lip as he saw Shadow's surprised look on his face. He knew Shadow was famous for having a temper on him and if he had gotten angry enough, he would do things he would later regret. He had hoped Shadow wouldn't get so angry, he would lash out at her. The last thing he needed was Shadow yelling at Tikal.

"You're not the only special one around here so I'm helping whether you like it or not!"

Ker's heart skipped a beat when he saw Shadow take a step forward to Tikal.

"Fine", Shadow had spoken. "You want to play with the big kids? Then be my guest."

Rouge thought it was too dangerous for Tikal to go as well and she was shocked that Shadow didn't force her to stay behind. She stood from her chair, "But, Shadow!"

The hedgehog turned his head to her, "I can't stop her so let it be."

Rouge and Nails watched full of worry as they left out the shop to go look for the demon.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Maxcell: This is all your fault!**

**Nack: Maybe we don't have to do all the work after all!**

**Shadow: Damn it! Did this thing get stronger?**

**Tikal: They're gonna die…and I can't help them…**


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

Much later, it was early in the night as Nack and The Raiders were wandering around the Tech City Cemetery looking for the demon.

Razi placed a hand to his forehead as he walked with the rest of the group. "How could this have happened?"

"Yeah, Razi", Maxcell spoke when he turned to the beaver. "I thought you had full control of that thing?"

"I don't know what happened. He just went berserk."

"And took that diamond", Nack added bitterly.

"It's not my fault", Razi spoke out.

"It's totally your fault!" Maxcell shouted. "Now we're out looking for the diamond and the demon!" He began to slap and punch Razi.

The hits Maxcell inflicted on him didn't hurt him severely. They were just light hits but Razi tried to stop him from hitting him, "Hey! Don't hit me!"

"You deserve it, you little weirdo!"

"Razi had then began to hit him back, "Who are you calling a weirdo?"

"You! Weirdo!"

Zena turned to the two who were slapping at each other in annoyance. "Oh give me a break."

Damon couldn't help but to chuckle in amusement as the sight of them fighting. "All right! Nerd fight!"

In aggravation, Nack walked over to the two and pulled them from each other. "Hey! Break it up!"

Razi pointed at Maxcell, "He started it."

All Maxcell did was flash his middle finger to him.

"I don't give a damn who started it!" Nack shoved both of them to the side and walked away from them. "We should be worrying about one thing and that's finding that demon."

"But what'll happen when we do find that thing? You saw how fucking big he got and how he threw that hedgehog and demon around like rag dolls", Zena spoke.

"She's right", Damon added. "If they didn't have a chance with it then what chance do we have with it?"

While Nack was thinking, he had suddenly heard voices coming near them. He looked around until he saw Shadow, Ker, and Tikal walking around the graveyard. He panicked and had hoped that they hadn't spotted them yet. He looked over to a huge bush across from them. He practically pushed everyone behind the bush, "Get down!"

Damon peeked through the bush as he watched them walk around like they were looking for something. "What are they doing here?"

"They're probably looking for that demon without a doubt." Zena turned to Nack, "What do we do?"

"We let them find that demon for us", Nack replied with a smirk.

Tikal looked around the dark cemetery, "Are you sure that demon's around here?"

"I'm positive. I feel it", Ker spoke as he continued to look around.

Shadow stared at the black crossbow Tikal held in her hands. "Where'd you get that?"

Tikal looked down at the crossbow that she had in her possession. "Oh this? Rouge gave it to me."

Shadow lightly sighed and rolled his eyes, "Should've known." He suddenly saw Ker stop in his tracks.

"Hold it", Ker had spoke.

Shadow and Tikal had immediately stopped walking and looked at Ker in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Shadow, do you feel that?"

Shadow paused and concentrated on feeling the presence of the demon. "Yeah it's close."

With worry, Tikal looked around until she saw a huge tree being thrown in their direction. "Look out!"

They all scattered, making the tree miss them just in time.

Tikal fell to the ground after she had dodged the tree. She looked up only to find a tall, gray creature with multiple big spikes on its one shoulder. She studied his appearance more and noticed that he still had one arm. "Oh my…" Her body froze as she saw the demon eject a huge spike from his arm.

Ker saw the spike flying towards her direction, "Tikal, move!"

She shut her eyes tightly when she couldn't find the courage to move her body. She then felt her body being picked up and carried away before the spike had hit her. She opened her eyes only to find herself in the arms of Ker. She smiled in relief at the sight of him, "Ker, thank you."

He gave her a warm smile as he put her body back down to the ground, "Don't mention it."

Shadow stood next to the them and focused on the demon standing before them. He took his gun out of his holster and pointed it at him. Before he could fire his weapon, the demon had sent a powerful hit that was strong enough to knock him to a nearby tree causing him to drop his gun to the ground.

Tikal saw the demon attack him and shouted in worry, "Shadow!"

Ker glared at the demon and watched as he regenerated his arm. "Shit! He could grow his arm back!"

Tikal saw the demon regenerate his arm as well, "Oh no!"

Ker stood in a fighting stance, "We just have to weaken him like last time." When he saw Shadow charge towards the demon, he decided to do the same.

The demon saw Shadow try to hit him with his glowing green fist, but he easily caught his fist and sent him flying back.

Tikal raised her crossbow and started to fire at the demon.

The arrow pierced into the demon's body but it seemed like it didn't take any effect. The arrows were stuck in him but it didn't slow him down.

Ker fired his handgun at him multiple times, but the more times he fired, the close the demon got to him. It was only a matter of time before the demon sent a powerful punch to the side off Ker's head. He fell to the ground while dropping his gun.

When Shadow saw the demon reach out to Ker, he came back towards him with another powerful punch.

The demon turned to him and suddenly shot one of its spikes into Shadow's shoulder.

Shadow fell to his knees, holding his bleeding shoulder in pain.

A worried look formed on Tikal's face when she saw the demon grab Shadow and Ker around their necks. "Shadow! Ker! No!"

Ker and Shadow struggled to get out of the demon's grip but he was too strong.

The demon gripped around their necks tighter suffocating them.

Tears swelled in Tikal's eyes as she witnessed the horrific sight. "No!" She raised her crossbow back at the demon. "Leave them alone!" She fired more arrows into the demon's back but he wasn't even flinching.

The demon made a deep and menacing laugh, "It is useless."

Tikal fell to her knees and dropped her crossbow to the ground as tears streamed down her cheeks. She placed her hand to her forehead while she looked down onto the ground. "No", she sobbed. "They're gonna die and I can't help them." She suddenly saw a bright yellow light down on the ground in front of her. She looked and saw her crossbow giving off a gold glow. She watched as the black crossbow turned golden. "What is…" She slowly picked it and stood from the ground while holding it.

The light was so bright, it was blinding the demon making him drop Shadow and Ker to the ground. He tried to shield his eyes from the light. "What is…that light?"

Shadow and Ker strained their eyes while looking into the light.

"Tikal?" Ker called.

Shadow strained his eyes trying to find Tikal. "What's going on?"

When the light had dimmed, Tikal had stood there dressed in her old tribal attire. She studied at how she was dressed in disbelief. She wore a white tank top, a tan, red, and green tribal skirt that passed her knees by only a little, white sandals with white straps around her feet and legs, and she wore golden tribal wear around her head, neck and arms. "My powers…I feel them. My powers…are back…" She fixed her eyes to the demon and raised her golden crossbow at him. "I have my powers again!" She held the crossbow tightly in he hands as she aimed it at the demon. She placed her finger on the trigger, "Eat this, demon!" When she pulled the trigger, a golden arrow had shot into the demon's chest.

The arrow was shoved so deep, it pierced though the demon.

Ker thought it was the perfect opportunity for Shadow to attack the demon, "Shadow, now!"

Shadow picked his handgun off of the ground and pointed it at the demon. He shot three rounds into the demon's chest. "Take cover!"

They all took cover as the demon's body exploded from the inside.

The demon's insides had scattered all over the ground.

As everyone looked at the blood all over the ground, they spotted the huge diamond laying in the grass.

"There's the diamond!" Shadow exclaimed.

Before Ker could reach out to it, another hand had suddenly snatched it before he did. "What?" He looked up only to find the diamond in Maxcell's possession.

The chipmunk had handed the diamond to Nack. "We'll be taking that."

Nack held the diamond tightly in his grip, "I believe this belongs to us."

"Give that back to us!" Ker demanded.

"Sorry detectives, but we have big plans for this baby."

Shadow gritted teeth at the weasel, "Bastard!"

"Until next time, fools!" Razi threw down a small silver metal ball. When the ball hit the ground, a thick cloud of smoke had surrounded The Raiders.

Shadow tried to stop them but after when the smoke had cleared, they had mysteriously disappeared. "Damn! They got away!"

"And they still have that strange diamond with them", Ker spoke nervously. He turned to Tikal who was now wearing her original green suit.

Tikal stood beside the two, "It doesn't matter. What does matter is that the demon is destroyed and we're all okay."

Shadow made a nod as he agreed with her.

"Tikal", Ker spoke. "You saved me and Shadow."

A small blush had formed on her face, "I'm just so glad I could help."

"No" Shadow spoke. "You saved us and helped us to defeat the demon. Thank you."

Her smile had widened on her face.

"So", Ker began. "How did you suddenly get your powers to work again?"

Tikal shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I just didn't want that demon to kill you and then everything just started glowing", Tikal explained as she began to walk out the cemetery with Shadow and Ker.

While not knowing it, a gray male fox with black hair who appeared in his late thirties wearing a matching brown suit was watching them from afar. He was standing on a tree branch while shuffling playing cards in his hands. "Well, well the detective team is still going strong. Interesting…"

**Author's Note: Well it's a whole new year! Which means new resolutions and goals! This year I hope to continue writing and keep being inspired to bring you all many more stories! Cheers! And hoping for a good fresh year! Thank you all for your love and support!**

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Rouge: I can't believe this is happening…me…getting married!**

**Tonya: You're so lucky!**

**Tikal: You and Shadow must have been through a lot together huh?**

**Rouge: You have no idea…**


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19**

A month had passed by and everyone had finished rebuilding the Chaotix Detective Agency. As soon as it was done, everyone was trying to continue life as it was before their headquarters had gotten destroyed.

While everyone was trying to get back into their detective work again, Shadow and Rouge were busy getting ready for their big day.

It was early that sunny afternoon at Shadow's house. The living room was practically covered in huge bags and boxes. In exhaustion, Rouge sat down on the sofa. She sighed tiredly, "Well that's the last of my crap."

Shadow looked around the room and saw the many boxes and bags. "You sure? You didn't forget anything?"

Rouge glanced around the room and arched an eyebrow at the hedgehog, "What? You wanted me to pack my kitchen sick too?"

He pointed up at the ceiling, "I'm pretty sure it's in one of those other ninety nine boxes you have upstairs."

She made a smirk, "No. The stuff I have upstairs are all of my jewelry and makeup."

Shadow looked around the boxes and bags setting on the floor around him. "Then what the hell is all this?"

She giggled and crossed her legs. "My clothes duh!"

"No woman needs this many clothes." He stepped over all the boxes and bags that were practically covering the floor and sat beside Rouge on the sofa.

"A woman can never have too many clothes."

He had pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead. "I don't care what you're wearing or how much make up you have, you'll always look beautiful to me."

She looked up at him with a small smile, "Even if all of my hair falls out and my body becomes all wrinkly?"

He paused and bit his lip as his eyes wandered away from her, "…Eh maybe a little bit of clown make up won't kill you."

She huffed and then playfully smacked him in the head with a newspaper from the table setting beside the sofa. "You're such a jerk!"

He couldn't help but to laugh a bit over how she reacted. "I'm kidding!"

"You had better be!" She knew deep down that he was only teasing her. She leaned her head against his chest and sighed happily with a smile on her face. "I can't believe this is happening. We're engaged. I'm moving in with you. We're going to spend the rest of our lives with each other. I'm so excited."

He held her hand, "Yup and next month, you'll officially be my wife."

She nuzzled her head against him. "I can't wait. You make me so happy, Shad."

He held her closer to him, "You too, babe."

The next day, Tikal had decided to visit everyone at the agency. When she stepped inside, he looked around the huge lobby in amazement.

The headquarters were finally finished and the building had never looked better. Instead of it being one story, it was now two making the building much bigger than it originally was.

She walked around the lobby in admiration. She had then spotted Shadow talking to Rouge and Tonya. She decided to walk over to the group. "Hey, guys!"

Everyone turned to her with smiles and greeted her back.

Tikal looked over to the hedgehog, "Shadow, I can't get over how amazing the place looks."

"Thanks", he glanced around and was impressed with how everything looked as well. "This place looks even better than I had imagined it to be. Our hard work really paid off." He had then heard Midnight calling his name as he approached the group.

"Hey, Shadow? Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure", Shadow looked back at the girls before he walked off with Midnight. "Excuse me, ladies."

Once Rouge saw Shadow walk away with Midnight, she turned to Tikal and Tonya in excitement. "Okay now we can get down to business!"

Tikal arched an eyebrow to Rouge, "Business?"

"Shopping for my wedding dress of course!"

With all of the excitement over having the agency finished, she almost forgot about Shadow and Rouge's wedding that was coming up. "Oh!"

"Since we're all off tomorrow, I thought you guys could help me pick out my dream dress."

"Of course!" Tonya exclaimed.

"We'd love to be there for you, Rouge", Tikal spoke in excitement.

Rouge was excited that her closest friends would be there for her while she decided on what dress she had wanted. "Great! Then it's a date, ladies!"

It was early in the evening the next day. Tikal and Tonya were at the bridal shop with Rouge helping her pick out her perfect wedding dress.

Rouge stared at her reflection in the mirror standing in front of her. She studied the wedding dress she was wearing.

The dress was white, the sleeves on the shoulders were poofy and the dress came down to her ankles and surprisingly it didn't show much of her cleavage.

Rouge sighed in frustration, "I don't know, guys."

Tonya sighed heavily. That was the eighth dress she had tried on and she was getting tired of Rouge's indecisiveness. "What's wrong with that one?"

Rouge turned to them, "It's ugly."

"I don't think it's ugly. I think it's kinda cute.", Tikal spoke with a small smile.

Tonya made a sly look, "What? You don't like it cause it doesn't show off more of that hot body?"

Rouge made a sarcastic laugh and rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Tonya." She began to look through the pile of dresses that she had already tried on.

Tikal suddenly became nervous as she was debating on asking Rouge if she would invite Nails to her wedding. "So, Rouge?" Tikal had began, "Are you planning on inviting Nails to the wedding?"

She paused for a moment and gave Tikal a look of disbelief. "No way." She then continued to look through the dresses.

"…Why not?"

She held a dress in her hands and turned to Tikal. "Gee I don't know. Maybe because she tried to kill me and my friends like a thousand times before."

Tikal was determined to make Rouge see that Nails had truly changed. She bit her lip before she tried to convince her, "Rouge, I know that you've had disagreements with your sister in the past, but believe me when I say that I feel a change in her."

"…Tikal."

"She means well now."

"Tikal!" Rouge snapped. "You just met her! You don't know the first thing about her! So please just drop it!" She could tell that Tikal had strong feelings for Nails and it made her feel uneasy.

Tikal had decided to let go of the subject of Nails after when she found out that she was only making her angry. "…I'm sorry, Rouge."

Tikal and Tonya watched as Rouge started to put on another dress.

Rouge was wearing a white dress that came down to her ankles. The arms of the sleeves were white lace. The dress fit her fairly tight and it showed off a lot of her cleavage.

Tonya thought she looked breathtaking, "Rouge, you look beautiful."

A blush had formed on Rouge's face as she looked at herself in the mirror. "You think so?"

The purple cat made a nod, "I'm completely jealous of you right now." Literally she had became envious of how gorgeous she had looked in the dress.

She turned to her with her face still red, "Oh thanks, Ton!"

Tonya couldn't take her eyes off of the beautiful dress. She couldn't believe that Rouge was actually getting married. "You're so lucky, Rouge."

Rouge and Tikal had their attention directed to Tonya when they saw her expressions change.

"You and Shadow…getting married. It's like a dream come true isn't it?"

"Well", Rouge spoke. "Yeah! I mean Shadow and I have been seeing slash dating each other for like ever. It's about time don't you think?" She bit her lip when she noticed Tonya's sudden melancholic expression. She seemed upset about something. Then she had began to think that maybe she thought that Tonya was perhaps jealous of her. She tried to make it seem like she wasn't trying to brag too much about how much her and Shadow had loved each other. "But don't get it wrong! He and I aren't perfect. We went through an ass ton of emotional drama before we actually started dating." She began to stroke her fingers through her hair as she started to remember all the bad moments they had encountered as their relationship progressed. "I mean Shadow and I absolutely hated each other at first sight. I was like a peppy cheerleader and he was that rebellious punk gothy guy. I loved the sunshine and he embraced the darkness."

A sweat drop had appeared on the side of Tikal's head. "This isn't high school, Rouge."

She made an uneasy smile, "I know! I'm just saying! That's how different we were." She continued to remember how she and Shadow first started liking each other. "Point being, we weren't really a perfect match for each other. Besides, he was still trying to get over his dead girlfriend at the time too. And by the time he realized he liked me, I was dating someone else."

Tikal arched an eyebrow. She never really recalled any major ex boyfriends Rouge had dated in the past. The only man besides Shadow that popped in her mind was Knuckles. "…Knuckles?"

Rouge made a small nod, "I loved Knuckles. I really did, but as Shadow and I worked together side by side each day, I began to fall for him too. Then we got into that clusterfuck of a situationship."

Tikal rose an eyebrow in confusion as she tried to understand what she was exactly saying.

When Rouge saw the confused look on Tikal's face, she sighed heavily, "I was starting to see Shadow behind Knuckles' back."

Tikal thought it would've made more sense to just simply break up with Knuckles and then be with Shadow. "But why didn't you just break up with Knuckles?"

"Because I loved Knuckles and Shadow. I wanted them both in my life. Besides, Shadow told me he wasn't ready for another serious relationship. His excuse was he didn't want to get too emotionally attached to me."

Tikal thought that Shadow's excuse wasn't really legitimate, "But you two were already sleeping with each other."

"Thank you!" Rouge exclaimed. "He was contradicting himself!"

Tonya made a cunning smile as she figured that some men did indeed use that excuse for not wanting to be in a relationship, "That's a guy for you."

"Besides, he was always getting butt hurt every time Knuckles was around me, but he was my boyfriend. What did he expect?"

Tonya crossed her arms, "So even though you two were fuck buddies, in Shadow's mind, he wasn't all for sharing you."

Rouge made a nod, "Yup! He acted like he was fine with me still being with Knuckles but deep down, he got jealous whenever I breathed Knuckles' name."

"So what happened?" Tikal asked.

"Towards the end, Shadow didn't care if Knuckles found out about us or not. And eventually that did happen and shit got ugly. Knuckles was enraged when he found out and came at Shadow."

"So they were both fighting over you?" Tikal asked.

Rouge made a slow nod.

"Must be nice having two guys fighting over you?" Tonya said.

Rouge shook her head, "No way! It was scary. Knuckles is a tough guy and all but Shadow was someone different. And back then, he had the tantrum of a two year old and he didn't think twice about taking a life. While they fought, Shadow really and truly could've snapped his neck and thought nothing of it."

"What stopped him?" Tikal asked.

Her eyes wandered down to the floor, "I told him if he killed him, I would hate him and I would never want anything to do with him again."

"I see…"

Rouge continued, "It took awhile after everything had stopped being so awkward between us. We eventually gotten close again but that time, we both decided to get into an actual relationship."

Tikal had figured even after all that, the two wouldn't stay away from each other too long. After all, they had worked with each other. It would've been a matter of time anyway.

"Even now, Shadow and Knuckles aren't on the best of terms, but they put the past behind them like grown men should." She bit her lip as she found it hard to face the two. She stared at her reflection in the mirror in sudden sadness. "Even though everything is fine now, I won't forget how much we hurt each other…"

Tikal could feel her heartbreaking when she saw tears swell in Rouge's eyes.

Rouge fought hard to hold her tears back, "It was awful…what I did. I used him and Knuckles." She placed her hand on her forehead as she tried hard not to cry. "Shadow was so hurt. The worst thing he ever said to me was when he called me a fucking slut." A tear fell from her cheek, "He doesn't deserve someone like me…"

When she saw her break down crying, Tikal ran over to her and hugged her in comfort . "Rouge, that was all in the past. What happened back then made your relationship stronger."

She nodded and tried to smile through her tears, "Yeah, you're right."

Tikal had made her look at herself in the mirror again. "Look at you, Rouge. You're gorgeous and Shadow's pretty lucky to be spending the rest of his life with you." When she saw Rouge smiling through her tears, she looked back at Tonya. "Right, Tonya?"

Tonya who was lost in her thoughts finally focused her attention back to them. "…Oh, right."

Rouge looked down at her dress and then smiled at Tikal. "You know what? I think I'm gonna get this dress."

Tikal happily smiled at her, "That's great! This dress is totally you!"

While Tikal was trying to lift Rouge's spirits back up, Tonya had went back deep in thought. She knew Shadow and Rouge went through a lot together to get where they were now, but she kept thinking about her own relationship with Espio. She thought what exactly was holding their relationship together?

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: Nails?**

**Nails: Shadow! My future brother in law! It's so good to see you!**

**Shadow: Why the hell is your sister here!**

**Rouge: Uh…funny story actually…**

**Shadow: Get her out or I throw her out!**

**Espio: What's suddenly gotten into you?**

**Tonya: I just really need to know what's going on with us…**


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

It was early the next morning and Shadow lazily made his way downstairs as the doorbell constantly rang. He approached the door with a mug full of coffee in one hand. "I'm coming!" He muttered under his breath, "Christ! Why do I even have a doorbell?" He swung the door open and stared mindlessly at the black bat woman standing in front of him. "…Nails?"

She greeted him with an energetic and positive reaction. "Shadow! My future brother in law! Good morning! How the heck are ya?"

It took him a moment to realize that he indeed wasn't dreaming and Nails was actually standing at the door at his house with the attitude of a freshman cheerleader. "…What the fuck are you doing here?"

Before she could even reply, Shadow had once again spoke out.

"Get off my property!"

She arched an eyebrow towards the hedgehog, "Geez! Rouge was right about how you're not a morning person. So grumpy!"

Shadow stood there at the doorway in disbelief as Nails constantly kept talking.

"You know I'm not much of a coffee drinker myself, but hey if it helps you ease into your day then I guess I can't really knock it can I?" She giggled as she tried to make casual conversation with Shadow. "So is my sis around or am I interrupting an intimate morning session if you know what I mean."

Shadow didn't know how much longer he could stand listening to Nails' pointless talking. He turned away from her and shouted angrily into the house. "Rouge!"

It didn't take long for fast pace footsteps to come running downstairs.

Shadow turned to a white bat woman who appeared behind him. Before he could say anything, he watched as Rouge pulled Nails into the house. "Oh Nails, you're here. We can finally get going."

Nails clasped her hands together in excitement, "Oh yay!" She then watched as Shadow pulled Rouge from her

"Excuse us for a moment." Shadow pulled Rouge away from Nails enough so that they could talk without her listening to their conversation. "Why the hell is your sister here?"

She bit her lip and couldn't bring herself to look at him. "Well, I was thinking about what Tikal said about her the other day."

Shadow knew Tikal was somewhat fond of Nails so without a doubt that she was trying to get everyone to slowly like Nails.

"…What if Nails has changed? I want to hang out with her to see for myself." She noticed Shadow's aggravated expression. She placed her hands on his chest and looked up at him with a guilty look. "Oh baby, you're mad. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my outing with her sooner. I just thought you would get all…" She paused and nervously glanced into his angry eyes, "…Like that. But she's my sister and I wanna bond with her…like sisters should. I want to give her a chance…just once more."

Shadow sighed heavily and placed his cup of coffee down on the small table next to them. "Okay to be honest, I am a little…agitated that you didn't tell me about this sooner. I mean we were supposed to sit down and actually start making plans for our big day."

"I know hun, and we will. This isn't going to be an all day thing. I promise."

"Okay fine, but be careful okay? I still don't fully trust her ass."

Rouge knew it would take some more time for Shadow to get the idea of opening up to Nails, but this was a start and everything was going better than she had expected. She smiled warmly, "I will, sweetie." She pulled him into a loving kiss until the two were interrupted by Nails.

"Aw!"

Without completely pulling away from each other, the two shifted their eyes over to Nails who was watching their every move in adoration.

"You two are just so perf together!"

In annoyance, Shadow turned to Rouge. "Get her out or I'll throw her out."

Rouge made a small smile and began to walk out the door with Nails by her side. "Let's go, Nails."

When they left, Shadow picked his mug of coffee off from the table and took a sip from it. "Times like this, I'm glad Espio's the closest thing I have to a sibling."

Later at Tonya's house, she and Espio were in her room laying in bed after having a steamy session with each other.

Espio held Tonya's bare body close to his and kissed her forehead, "Good morning."

"Good morning to you too." She made a small giggle, "I hope we didn't wake Tikal."

"She's a big girl. Besides, it's your fucking house. You should make all the noise you want."

When she felt his hands travel around her lower body, she gently pushed away from him. "Espio, we can't. Not again. It's like noon."

He heavily sighed and watched her get out of bed. "Come on, Ton. You're breaking my heart."

She made a small smile towards him while she was putting on her white collared shirt. "Sorry hun, but I should've been up hours ago."

Espio sat up in the bed and watched as she had gotten dressed. "I guess it is getting pretty late in the morning." He had then realized that Tonya was giving him a strange look. "…What?"

She bit her lip as she debated to tell him what was actually on her mind. "…How long have we been dating?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Um five maybe going on six months now. Why?"

She nervously began to fiddle with her fingers, "…Do you think we kinda…rushed?"

The chameleon arched an eyebrow, "Rushed? Tonya, we knew each other since I was eighteen. Do you know how long ago that was?"

"I know that. I'm not talking about how many years we had on friendship. I'm talking about our relationship."

"…I'm not following you."

"Why do you love me?"

He was taken by surprise. Did she seriously just ask him that? What was going on with her? "…What?"

"Why do you love me?" She repeated in a firmer tone.

"Because you're pretty, smart, and you're really fun to be around. What's with this random Q and A anyway?"

She sighed heavily, "I just never really thought of it before but, at first I never really liked you because you always acted like a horny school boy."

"Oh come on. I wasn't that bad."

"You tried to get with Rouge when she first joined the Chaotix."

"…Okay I was bad but in my defense, at that time Shadow hated her and Rouge had made it pretty clear that she wasn't about me."

"So you backed off with Rouge and kept pressuring me to go out with you?"

"I don't know why you're getting so upset over this. Tonya, we're together now. It doesn't matter what happened in the past."

Her voice had gotten louder, "It does matter!" She sighed and took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself. "Maybe…maybe we don't have a real relationship. This could be something else and you just think this is what a relationship is like."

"You don't think we're dating? Then what the hell are we doing then?"

"…I think we're just…really close friends."

Espio's mouth practically dropped, "…What? Tonya…"

She felt like she couldn't look at him and turned away.

Espio was lost for words. "…How? Why are you thinking like this?"

"Because if we truly loved each other, we would be exactly where Shadow and Rouge are."

His heart raced with thoughts filling his head. What did she really want out of him? Marriage? "…Is this what this is about? You're getting all emotional about us because of what's going on with Shadow and Rouge?" He couldn't believe that Tonya was acting like this. "Tonya, we met way before Shadow even knew of Rouge's existence. If anything, maybe they rushed."

She shook her head, "They're different from us. They went through so much more shit than we did."

"Yeah", he spoke. "I know. Between his addiction with drugs and his obsession with Rouge, Shadow went literally crazy over her. He would've blown his brains out for her if she wanted him to."

"Well Shadow's just a really passionate guy when it comes to love."

He gave her a disbelieving look, "…He was hopped up on fucking coke and was pissed that Rouge was just using him for some side dick while she was fucking another guy!"

"…That's not what I'm trying to say."

"Then what are you trying to say? I don't love you?" He began to become angry, "…Are you trying to compare our relationship with theirs? You don't think I'm going all out here with this relationship thing?"

She crossed her arms and looked at him. "Things are just becoming more clearly now. I just thought we were a little past being just close friends."

With him speechless, he watched her storm out the bedroom.

Later on that evening, Rouge had gotten back from her meet up with Nails. She came into the living room and saw Shadow sitting on the sofa with a few papers laying on the sofa and a small table setting across from him.

He looked up when he saw her coming into the room. "You're back already?"

"Yeah I told you. I'm back in one piece like you wanted."

"Heh, good", he made room on the sofa so Rouge could sit beside him. "So how did the sister thing go?'

She sat beside him with a content smile on her face. "It went pretty well actually."

He arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah we were just sitting around back at her shop and we were just catching up on some things. And oh my God! So many feelings were shared!"

He made a small smile. "Did she say anything that changed your outlook on her?"

"No", she spoke. "But", she turned to him with a serious look. "She said she wished black magic didn't take over her life. It cost her the only sane and close relative she has."

"…So are you going to let her back into your life?"

She made a small smile, "I'm open to the idea. I just really miss the idea of having my big sister back in my life."

Shadow still didn't completely trust her, but if Rouge was all for having Nails being apart of her life again then he wanted to support her. "I still don't like her that much, but if you're open about it then I will try to…accept her."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, "Thanks, hun." She looked at the papers laying all over the table. "What are you up to anyway?"

"Well", he began. "Half of these are papers from work and half of this is just some ideas for the wedding." He reached out and picked up a notebook from the table and set it in his lap.

Rouge leaned closer to him to look at the notebook, "What is it?"

"I was trying to think of who we should invite to the wedding."

"Oh good! I see you already listed all of the guys, your mother, Tikal…"

"This is why I kind of need you by the way."

"Okay well for my side of the list, my mom and dad…"

His ears twitched as Rouge mentioned her parents, "Aw fuck…"

"What? I have to invite them!"

"I know but you know they don't really like me."

She made a small giggle, "What makes you think that?"

"I met them once and that was for Thanksgiving last year at your place."

"And they couldn't stop talking about you." She could remember that entire dinner like it happened yesterday. Rouge's parents had fought with Shadow almost the entire time. They didn't like him because they simply didn't like his style and personality.

"…They called me an antichrist freak."

Rouge made an uneasy look, "So they're a little judgey."

He shifted his eyes over to her, "They hate me."

"Well they can either come and support me or don't. I know Nails will."

"…Nails?"

She made a nod, "Yup I'm gonna make her a bridesmaid alongside Tikal and Tonya." She saw his uneasy expression, "What? You don't want her to be there either?"

He shook his head, "No, it's fine. She seems more than happy enough for us."

The two paused as they tried to think of more people they could invite to the wedding.

"Oh!" Rouge had then thought of someone else, "Julie-Su and Knuckles!"

Shadow's expression froze to a surprised one as he turned to her. "…Knuckles?"

She could **already** tell that Shadow wasn't crazy about the idea of inviting her ex boyfriend to the wedding. She made a hesitant nod, "Yeah, he's still a good friend of mine and you and him are okay…right?"

He hesitated for a moment. After when he and Knuckles had fought over Rouge, they eventually talked it out, but it was still awkward and Shadow was for certain that Knuckles had still didn't quite forgive him or Rouge for what they had done. "He and I are…okay." He then felt Rouge's hand being placed on his cheek.

"Honey, we don't have to invite them if you don't want to."

"No, it's okay", he spoke as he took her hand from his cheek. "That was all in the past. We were acting completely immature, but things are different now. He's happy with Julie and I'm happy with you."

"…Thank you, baby." She leaned over to him and brushed her lips upon his. She was glad to know that Shadow was setting aside his past grudges for them both to share their perfect day with each other.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: Oh my God…you two are bonding…**

**Nails: I think Shadow finally trusts me!**

**Rouge: It's so good to actually have a sister again.**

**Shadow: Espio?**

**Espio: Girls! I can't stand them and their damn drama!**

**Shadow: Maybe you should just tell her how you feel?**

**Espio: But…what if I lose her?**


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 21**

It was early in the afternoon the next day at Shadow's house.

Shadow was walking throughout the house looking for Rouge until he had heard giggling in a room across from him. He heard multiple laughing. One sounded like Rouge's and the other sounded like another yet familiar feminine laugh. He peeked his head into the guest room and saw Rouge sitting on a bed with Nails.

The two sisters were softly talking while Nails was brushing Rouge's long white hair. The two stopped what they were doing when they heard a fake coughing at the doorway. They turned to find Shadow leaning against the doorway with a mug of coffee in his hands.

Nails figured Shadow was upset with her because she was in his house without Rouge informing him. "Oh, Shadow! I…"

"…You're actually getting along with each other."

The two bat sisters looked at each other with small smiles.

A warm smile formed on his face, "I'm glad that you two are bonding."

In absolute shock that Shadow didn't yell at Nails for being in the house, Rouge watched as he walked away leaving the two alone. She turned to the black bat, "Oh my God I can't believe it. No yelling."

Nails was so relieved that Shadow didn't get angry with her. "Maybe he's finally starting to like me?"

"I hope so. The less tension with him, the better."

"Well, he was drinking his coffee. So maybe that had something to do with it."

Rouge couldn't help but to laugh with her from her comment.

The two were once again interrupted when Rouge felt her cell phone vibrate inside of her pants pocket.

Rouge took the phone out of her pocket and read a text message. "…Oh…"

Nails noticed her change of facial expressions as she read the text message. "What's wrong?"

"It's Tonya. She wants us to come over."

Nails watched as Rouge put her phone back in her pants pocket and got off of the bed she was sitting on. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know but she sounds upset. We should head over to her place."

She made a nod, "Right." She got off of the bed as well and followed Rouge out of the room.

Much later, Shadow walked downstairs while the doorbell had rung constantly. He sighed heavily as he approached the door. "That tears it. I'm getting rid of that damn doorbell." He opened the door and saw Espio standing at the doorway. "Espio?"

"Before I say anything, is Rouge here?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

"Nails? Tikal? Any females at all?"

He once again shook his head, "No, Rouge left with Nails maybe an hour ago to head over Tonya's."

As Espio stepped inside, he sighed heavily in frustration. "That's just perfect! So they can all get together and talk more girly shit to each other!"

Shadow rose an eyebrow in confusion as he noticed Espio's aggravated attitude. He shut the door when he saw Espio walk inside and sit down in a chair. "…What's up with you?"

"Didn't you get my text?"

Shadow shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his cell phone from his pants pocket. He sat back down on the sofa and started to scroll through the recent messages on his phone.

"Tonya is pissed with me!"

Shadow took his eyes from his phone and looked at the frustrated chameleon. "Why?"

"I don't know!"

Shadow placed his phone down on the small table in front of him and held a glass of water in his hands. He took a sip of his water and focused his attention on Espio. "Makes sense already."

"No! Something happened that day she, Rouge, and Tikal went to pick out Rouge's dress."

"Something happened? Rouge came back happy as shit that day. It didn't look like anything was bothering her."

"That's the problem! While they were out together someone put some crazy shit in Tonya's head and now she's looking at me like I'm ruining our relationship."

"Wait a minute. What's exactly going on?"

Espio bit his lip as he hesitated. "Tonya basically said that she feels like her and I are just really close friends rather than being in an actual relationship."

He arched an eyebrow, "…What the hell did you do? Too much sex?"

He shifted his eyes over to him in annoyance from his comment. "Very funny."

"But this doesn't make any sense. You love her."

"I know that's what I told her! But for some reason she thinks I'm playing around with her feelings."

"I thought she was happy with how things were between you two?"

The chameleon shrugged his shoulders. "I thought so too, but she kept bringing up you and Rouge. She was comparing us with you two!"

Shadow was then taken by surprise as he and Rouge were apparently involved in their quarrel, "…Really?"

He made a small nod, "I don't know…she's acting like our relationship is shit compared to you guys."

Shadow bit his lip in hesitation before he spoke out to Espio about what the problem may have been. "I'm no expert on relationships or anything but…do you think that with Rouge and I being engaged and all is making her kinda…jealous?"

Espio looked back at Shadow with a shocked expression. "Tonya? Jealous? Of…Rouge?"

He made a small nod, "I'm not saying she is, but with Rouge being all super excited about the wedding and all, it probably got to Tonya a little."

"Well what the fuck! What does she want me to do? We've been dating for like six months! She expects me to move in with her? Get married?"

Shadow's eyes widened as he saw Espio stand from the chair and starting to pace around the room anxiously.

"Have kids? It's too fast, Shadow! It's too much!"

"…If that's how you feel, then you should tell her."

A saddened look at overcame on his face, "But…but I might…lose her."

Meanwhile, Rouge, Nails, and Tikal were sitting in the living room with Tonya at her house.

Rouge sat alongside with Tonya on the sofa rubbing her back trying to comfort her.

Nails and Tikal sat down on the floor and had tried to sympathize with Tonya.

Tonya sniffled as a tear fell down her cheek.

Rouge handed her a tissue so she could wipe the tears from her face. "Oh sweetie, it kills me to see you upset like this."

Tonya used the tissue to wipe some of the tears from her face. "I just don't understand anything anymore. My entire relationship with Espio could be a sham. What if he's just confused? Maybe he only loves me for my body?"

"Tonya, that can't be true. Espio's a great guy and you know he cares about you", Tikal spoke.

"Well", Nails spoke. "Tonya may have a point. Us women, are always the emotional ones while in relationships. And they men, ninety nine percent of the time are always thinking with their dick. It's facts!"

After hearing Nails speak, Tonya had began to once again sob.

Rouge glared at the black bat woman, "You're not helping!"

Nails shrugged slightly, "Sorry just saying."

"Hey!" A male voice shouted from the kitchen.

They all then saw Ker walk into the living room with a tray of cookies in his hands.

"I take offense to that! Not all men are a bunch of horny animals! Some are actually gentle and passionate when it comes to relationships." He held out the tray of cookies towards the girls, "Cookies?"

Everyone decided to take a chocolate chip cookie off from the tray.

"Ker", Nails spoke while she ate her cookie. "If more men acted like you, then they would all be gay. No offense."

"…Again…offense!" The snow white skinned demon rolled his eyes in annoyance and walked back into the kitchen to put the tray he held away.

Nails focused her attention back to Tonya, "Tonya sweetie, don't worry about Espio. Just go gay and find a girl who's on your level."

Rouge flashed her eyes over to Nails. "Um I think she'll just stick to dick but thanks, Nails."

Tonya tried to hold her tears back, "I just don't know what to think anymore. Are me and Espio actually right for each other?"

"I got it!" Nails exclaimed.

Tikal arched an eyebrow towards her in confusion, "What is it?"

"Bowling!"

Everyone in the room gave her a strange look . "Bowling?"

"Yeah! We could all go out on a double date! No!" She held Tikal's hand, "A triple date! Me and Tikal! Shadow and Rouge! And Tonya and Espio!"

"Well that sounds fun, but how is this supposed to help Tonya and Espio?" Ker asked from the kitchen.

"We'll work in teams! Which means working together! Bowling with each other! Then they'll know for sure if they're right for each other", Nails had explained.

Rouge placed a finger to her chin and thought about the idea. She had figured that Nails had only wanted to do this to get closer to Tikal. Other than that, it just seemed like a useless tactic. "I'm kind of with Ker. It sounds kinda useless but fun." She turned to Tonya, "But it's up to you, Ton. What do you wanna do?"

Tonya carelessly shrugged her shoulders, "I don't see the harm of trying it."

Nails excitedly stood from the floor, "Then that settles it! It's a triple date!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: Bowling!? No way!**

**Rouge: Oh come on! It'll be fun!**

**Espio: If you didn't mouth off to rest of those girls, we wouldn't be here right now!**

**Tonya: I wish you'd stop acting like such a jerk!**

**Tikal: …Nails?**

**Rouge: Holy crap! Did she just do what I think she just did!?**

**Tonya: I can't take this…**


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER 22**

"Bowling?" Shadow had repeated in a shocked tone. He was sitting at the table in the kitchen of his house talking to Rouge who was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed.

The bat woman made a nod, "That's right."

"Espio and Tonya are having relationship issues and you want to actually drag us into the middle of the crossfire?"

"Come on, Shad. They could really use this. Besides, it'll be fun."

"Fun? It's you, me, Nails, Tikal, Espio, and Tonya…together!"

Rouge didn't understand what was making Shadow so upset. "I don't understand the harm in it."

"Well apparently Tonya's full of fucking jealousy. So full of it, she's using us as an example against Espio so she can get him to commit to her."

Rouge thought it was great that Tonya wanted more of a serious relationship with Espio. "What's wrong with that?"

"He doesn't want to commit!"

Rouge sighed heavily in frustration over Shadow's reaction.

"I'm telling you Rouge, it's a disaster waiting to happen and I want no part of it!"

She had began to think that Shadow just didn't want to get involved. "Shadow, listen to yourself! Don't you even care about their relationship? Their happiness?"

"Of course I care. I want the best for them, but I just think that they should work it out on their own."

"But that could end up any kind of way."

Shadow leaned his back against the chair and crossed his arms, "Well I didn't raise my hand and volunteer to do this stupid date thing."

Rouge leaned over on the table and glared towards the hedgehog, "You're right. I did it for you. So you're going!"

He was finally tired of arguing about the subject and just give in. "Fine! But I'll only do it so you'll get off my back about it!"

She made small yet satisfied smile before she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you. That's all you had to say at first."

As she walked away, Shadow rested his head on his hand and just knew that everything would go horribly wrong.

That next night was the night that Shadow and Rouge had went out bowling together alongside Tikal, Nails, Tonya, and Espio. They were sitting beside each other as separate teams while inside of the bowling alley.

Shadow and Rouge sat together while wearing red bowling uniform shirts.

Espio and Tonya's bowling shirts were blue and Nails and Tikal were sitting next to each other wearing pink shirts.

Tikal looked over to Nails in excitement. "I'm so excited! I've never been bowling before!"

Nails turned to her with the same excited look. "This is going to be fun!"

Shadow looked like he didn't want to be there at all. He sat beside Rouge with an uncaring look and his arms crossed.

Rouge flashed her eyes over to him and angrily whispered to him. "Remember we're doing this for Espio and Tonya."

Shadow glanced over to the two who were sitting beside them and noticed that they were barely even talking to each other.

Espio saw how Tonya was awkwardly staring at him. "I don't know why we're all here doing this."

"Well", she began. "Since the Chaotix is finished and Shadow and Rouge's wedding is on the way, Nails thought this would be a good way for everyone to unwind a little."

The chameleon rose an eyebrow in interest at the cat woman. "Nails huh? So she thought it would be a great idea for all of us to hangout together on some kind of crazy date? Cause this is what it looks like."

"Geez can you drop the attitude? You're bringing everyone down."

"What? I didn't even want to be here!" He pointed over at Rouge, Nails, and Tikal. "If you didn't open your fucking mouth, they would've never stuck their noises in our business!"

"Stop acting like such a jerk! They're just trying to help!"

The area around them had gotten awkwardly silent for a moment because their shouting was being carried throughout the room.

Nails looked around and saw other people beginning to stare at them. She uneasily turned to the group. "So who's ready to bowl?"

Tikal tried to force a smile on her face as she raised her hand. "I am!"

Shadow slowly turned to Rouge while giving her the 'I told you so' kind of look.

As the night progressed, everyone was finally bowling and having a fairly decent time. However from time to time, Espio and Tonya had stopped to argue about one thing and then another.

Tikal stood at the end of the lane nervously holding the ball in her hand.

Nails saw her hesitating and stood beside her, "What's wrong, sweetie?"

The echidna looked over to her in embarrassment, "It's just…it's my first time bowling. I'm not quite sure what to do."

"It's easy once you get the hang of it." Nails practically wrapped her arms around Tikal's body as she tried to teach her how to bowl. "I'll show you, hun."

As she felt Nails' body brush upon hers, she couldn't help the fact that her face went cherry red.

Rouge and Shadow were bowling in the lane next to Nails and Tikal.

Shadow just hit another strike and he acted like the entire game was a cakewalk. He stood next to Rouge and watched her pick up a bowling ball.

She turned to him with a pleased look. "Another strike? Way to go, baby!"

The hedgehog shrugged his shoulders, "We're both good shots so we're definitely going to win if it even matters."

"What do you mean?"

Shadow directed his attention to Tonya and Espio who were sitting at a table arguing with each other. "Espio and Tonya are still going at it." He then turned to Tikal and Nails, "And your sister's too busy hitting on Tikal."

When Rouge turned, she saw Tikal make a strike.

Tikal excitedly jumped up and down in Nails' arms. "I did it! I got one!"

Nails held the echidna woman in her arms, "I told you it was easy."

"You're just an amazing teacher." She had then found herself lost into her red eyes until she was pulled into a sudden kiss.

Rouge's mouth dropped as she watched Nails kiss Tikal. "Oh my…" She was so stunned by the act, she dropped the bowling ball she was holding. She didn't notice until she heard Shadow's yelling.

"God damn it!"

The white bat's eyes widened in shock as she realized that she had dropped the bowling ball on Shadow' foot. "Oh my God! Shadow, are you okay?"

Nails pulled away from Tikal when they both heard Shadow's yelling. They both ran over to them.

"Oh God! Shadow!" Nails spoke in a worried tone.

Shadow tried to ignore the pain and pretended that he was okay. "I'm fine! I'm fine! Christ!"

Everyone was startled when they heard Espio's voice carry.

"I can't believe you're acting like this!"

The group turned and saw Espio and Tonya confronting each other angrily.

The purple cat woman yelled back at the chameleon, "Acting like what?"

"Do you really want me to say it?"

Tikal walked up to the arguing couple along with Nails, Rouge, and Shadow. "Um, guys?" She began to speak nervously, "Maybe we should be using our indoor voices."

The angry couple glared at the orange echidna, "Stay out of this!"

With unease, Tikal did as they wanted and decided to let them to continue arguing.

Espio focused his attention back to Tonya, "I still don't understand what this is about!"

"We've been dating for awhile now. Don't you think we should advance a little?"

Now he was worried. What did she exactly mean by advance? Marriage perhaps? "…What do you mean advance?"

She crossed her arms, "Move in with me."

"…What?"

"You heard me", she spoke in a low and bitter tone.

Espio loved Tonya and thought that they would possibly settle down one day but this was happening to fast for him. "I'm not moving in with you!"

"I thought you loved me?"

"I do love you!" He sighed heavily in frustration, "God Tonya, I wish I could make you understand!"

"No", she spoke. "I think I do understand."

The chameleon arched an eyebrow in confusion. He had doubted that she finally understood how he wasn't ready to commit to her.

Her eyes slowly wandered away from him, "I think…us dating was a mistake." She bit her lip, "I think we should break up."

With those words, he couldn't help but to feel heartbroken. He couldn't believe this was happening. She was breaking up with him. "…At least that's something we can both agree on."

"What?" Everyone couldn't believe what they were hearing from the two.

"No!" Rouge spoke in a devastated voice, "You can't!" She watched as Tonya stormed out of the building.

Tikal worriedly looked over to Espio who had stood there in both anger and sadness. "…Espio?"

"I just need to be alone." Without looking back, Espio had left as well.

It broke Rouge's heart to see their relationship fall apart in front of her very eyes. "Shadow, what are we going to do?"

The hedgehog winced from the throbbing pain on his foot from where Rouge had dropped the bowling ball. "How about a giant bucket of I told you so and some damn ice for my foot?"

Rouge angrily flashed her eyes over to him and stomped her foot on the top of his already hurt foot causing him to yell out in more pain. "You men are impossible!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Rouge: I can't believe it! Our wedding is tomorrow!**

**Shadow: And your parents are here…great…**

**Rouge: Why can't they be more supportive of us?**

**Nails: My parents are super embarrassing!**

**Rouge: Shadow, calm down!**

**Shadow: This wedding is going to be a fucking disaster!**


	23. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER 23**

Two weeks later, it was late in the afternoon inside of a huge church. There were purple and light pink themed things such as ribbons and flowers all throughout the church. A piano was softly playing while the crowd of people in the church were carrying on conversations with each other.

The entire Chaotix group was present along with Nails, Tikal, Shadow's mother, Rouge's parents, and other close friends.

Rouge and Shadow were standing in the front of the corridor watching as everyone socialized.

Shadow looked around the room, "This reception is going pretty smoothly…except for your parents of course."

Rouge sighed sadly when she noticed that Tonya and Espio were sitting at separate ends of the room. "This is awful…"

"I know", Shadow agreed as he spotted two older bat figures across the room talking and drinking punch together. "Your parents actually came."

The white bat flashed her eyes over to the hedgehog in annoyance. "Not that. Espio and Tonya…they look so miserable."

Shadow took Rouge's hand and led her down the aisle of the corridor. "Um, Rouge? Honey, I know you're worried about Espio and Tonya. I am too and I'm gonna try not to sound like a dick when I say this, but in case you forgot…our fucking wedding is tomorrow."

Rouge could suddenly sense the frustration in Shadow's voice.

"Our friends and families are here. Your parents have been giving me shit for the past few days ever since they arrived in town."

Rouge stopped in her tracks and decided to listen to more of what Shadow had to say.

"This week is supposed to be one of the happiest weeks of my life and I've been trying so hard not to jump out the damn window over preparations and high school drama."

She then felt him gently caressing her hand with his. "So please can you just focus on us right now?"

Rouge sighed heavily as she realized that she was focusing on other things and not what was actually going on between them. "Okay you're right. This is supposed to be our moment. I'm sorry, sweetie." She nuzzled upon his chest lovingly, "Tomorrow will be perfect."

He leaned in and kissed her until they were interrupted when a male voice called out to them.

"Hey! Save it for the honeymoon you two!"

Shadow and Rouge turned to an older male gray bat approaching them along with an older white bat woman by his side.

Rouge smiled warmly at the couple who stood before them. She embraced the older male bat, "Daddy!"

"My baby girl." Her father had returned the hug until Rouge had pulled away from him and went to hug her mother. His eyes flashed over to the hedgehog in annoyance, "…Shadow."

Shadow gave the male bat the same cold look back, "…Jack."

Jack's eyes never strayed away from the sight of the hedgehog. "Rouge, are you sure you wanna hook up with this devil hog?"

Rouge pulled away from her mother and gave her father an annoyed look. "Daddy, be nice to Shadow."

A disgusted look was shown on his face, "I can't believe he's going to be my son in law."

Shadow angrily crossed his arms. "What's wrong, Jack? Upset that I'm gonna be the one banging your daughter on her special wedding night?"

With his face lit in anger he practically lunged himself out at the hedgehog. "Why you!"

Rouge tried to calm her father down, "Daddy, calm down!"

"Well he's gotta be doing something right", Rouge's mother had spoke. "Rouge didn't turn out gay like her sister."

"Very observant, Garnet", Shadow growled. "That must one of your special key elements for being a class A bitch."

"What did you call me you ill mannered…" Before she could finish, Rouge had cut in between them.

"Okay!" She spun around to the furious hedgehog, "Um Shadow, why don't you go get us some drinks?"

Jack had held up a white foam cup, "But I already have a…"

"You can never have too much punch!" She once again turned to Shadow, "Please!"

When Shadow realized what she had wanted him to do, he sighed heavily. "Fine."

After when he had walked away from them, Rouge turned to her parents in disappointment. "Why do you guys always have to make it so hard for him?"

Jack had arched an eyebrow, "Just look at him. He's completely no good for you."

"He's cocky, stubborn, rude, and he listens to that God awful metal music", her mother had spoke.

"Didn't he used to be a drug addict too?"

"Drugs, Rouge?" Garnet had exclaimed.

Rouge slowly shifted her eyes away from them. She began to remember all of the things Shadow was mostly known for especially before the two had even started dating.

Shadow at one time was a hardcore drug addict and an alcoholic. He had even suffered from constant depression and schizophrenia. Over the years, he had gotten better dealing with it. However, whenever he became severely stressed out he would pick back up on a couple of bad habits.

She wanted to believe that he had gotten completely over his addictions and disorders. "…He had a rough life okay? But he doesn't do that stuff anymore..."

Garnet gave her a sympathetic look. "Honestly Rouge, we don't know what you see in him. He'll never give you the kind of future you want. I wanted grandchildren for God's sake."

She bit her lip lightly. She was already slightly disappointed that she and Shadow may never have a child together. As she was trying her best to look past that, her parents were making the matter worse. "…It can't be helped and you know that."

"Why should you have to give something up for something like…that?" Jack had asked.

"Really Rouge, you should've just stuck with that red echidna", Garnet had spoke.

"Stop it", Rouge spoke in a low voice. "Just stop it okay! Shadow makes me happy and you should be happy for me like real parents should!" Afterwards, she stormed away from them leaving them speechless.

An older pink hedgehog woman had approached Shadow at the drink table. She embraced the black hedgehog from behind.

Startled, Shadow turned to the hedgehog woman. "Oh hey, mom", he spoke dully.

"Hey yourself", she spoke with a smile. "How are you feeling? Excited for your big day?"

He shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't really in the mood at the moment since Rouge's parents were talking bad about him for almost the entire day. "Yeah."

She had noticed his melancholy attitude, "Shadow, what's wrong, dear?"

He replied without turning to her. "It's nothing…just Rouge's parents talking more shit."

It angered her that Rouge's parents would always talk negative about Shadow. She couldn't understand why they had hated him so much. "Oh don't pay attention to those dumb bats. You know they don't know what they're talking about."

He shrugged his shoulders carelessly, "At least they're leaving town right after the wedding."

"That's another good thing to look forward to huh?"

He sighed heavily, "Yeah I guess." He had then spotted Nails who was standing next to him with the same miserable attitude.

"You think you got it bad? At least you don't have embarrassing parents who's constantly nags about how many times you've been locked up and how super wrong it is to be attracted to women!" She angrily crossed her arms, "And they keep saying I'm going to burn in Hell! Yeah I know! I'm going to rot in Hell! I'm fully aware of this!"

Shadow rose an eyebrow and smirked, "Oh? You too? Looks like I'll be seeing you there."

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Anita's head, "Oh come on. Don't say that. Garnet and Jack don't know what they're talking about."

Shadow turned to the pink hedgehog. "They told me I'd burn for listening to the devil's music and being an atheist."

"They said I'd burn for using witchcraft and being a whore", Nails spoke with a smirk.

An uneasy look formed on Anita's face, "Your parents aren't really the nicest people in the world huh, Nails?"

"Duh!" Nails exclaimed.

Shadow had then saw Espio confronting him.

The chameleon called out to him, "Oh hey, Shad."

When Anita saw Espio about to talk with Shadow, she had decided to walk away to give them some privacy.

"Hey Es, you still coming tomorrow right?"

"Duh! Just because Tonya and I aren't dating anymore, it doesn't mean we both won't be there for you."

Shadow was glad to know that he could always count on Espio. After all, he always looked at him as a brother.

"Besides, I'm your best man. I got your back, dude."

"Thanks, Es." He saw him holding a clipboard, "So is everyone else still coming tomorrow?"

Espio began to read some off the names off of the clipboard. "Yeah. We got Julie, Knuckles, Sarah…"

"What about Charmy?"

Espio paused as he looked up at him in surprise that he had singled Charmy's name out from the group. "…Charmy?"

He made a small nod, "Yeah did he mention anything about coming?"

The chameleon shrugged his shoulders, "He never really mentioned anything about it to be honest."

A worried look had formed on Shadow's face.

"I mean I'm assuming he is, but he's been so distant and quiet. He barely talks to any of us anymore and its…kind of scary."

Even Shadow had to admit that Charmy's behavior was setting off a red flag. It worried him terribly. It didn't take much for Shadow to think of Charmy's behavior as warning signs of suicide.

"…He's been like that since…"

Shadow knew that Charmy had been starting to act different since Vector's death. "I know and I wanna talk to him but…."

"…Margaret?"

He made a nod. Margaret had hated him and had probably been bad mouthing him for months to Charmy trying to turn him against him. "Yeah but Charmy's a smart kid with good judgment. He's put up with her crap before why would this time be any different?"

"I just hope he shows."

The two were interrupted when Rouge walked over to them with a worried look on her face. "Shadow?"

The hedgehog saw the worried look on her face, "What's wrong?"

"Well", she began. "Anita ran into my mom in the bathroom…"

"…And?"

"…They're arguing."

"Again?" Shadow knew Anita wasn't a fan of Jack and Garnet since they always talked down about him. They had been getting into arguments just as much as he did with them. "Fucking Christ!" He placed his hand on his forehead, "It's going to be a fucking disaster tomorrow."

Rouge bit her lip in worry as she noticed him getting stressed out, "Don't say that, Shad."

Espio started to ease away from them to give them privacy, "I'm gonna try to break up the cat fight."

Shadow shook his head when he saw Espio run over to Anita, Jack, and Garnet. "This is perfect! This is supposed to be one of the best moments of our lives but it'll be nothing but a straight up war zone."

Rouge still tried to think positive. "Everything will be all right, Shad."

"Yeah everything will be just peachy", he spoke in a sarcastic tone. "We've got your hypocrite Christian parents, Espio and Tonya are having relationship problems, and then there's your gay witch sister who's trying to get into a five thousand year old girl's panties!"

An uneasy look formed on Rouge's face as she realized that there was many things going on. "…Oh…"

"I fucking swear! Can this not get any worse?"

Meanwhile, The Raiders were in Razi's house down in his basement making plans for their next big move.

Maxcell was sitting on a wooden stool eating an apple while reading the newspaper until he came across an interesting article. He looked up from the paper and turned to everyone else. "Hey, guys!" He called, "Check this out!"

When Maxcell held the newspaper out to grab, Zena had decided to take a look at it. A sinister smile had slipped upon her face.

When Maxcell saw her expression, he had formed an evil look as well. "Pretty interesting huh?"

"I don't believe this", the squirrel spoke as she read more of the article. "Shadow and Rouge are getting married."

Nack, Damon, and Razi instantly stopped what they were doing and turned to Zena in disbelief.

Zena continued, "They are to be wed tomorrow."

"What?" Razi spoke in disbelief.

Nack quickly snatched the newspaper from Zena and began to glance through the article seeing it for himself. "Well what do you know?"

Damon turned to the chipmunk, "What are you doing looking through the wedding section anyway?"

Maxcell shamefully looked away from him and continued to eat his apple. "…You don't need to know."

Zena clasped her hands together in excitement, "Oh my God! Nack, we gotta crash this wedding!"

"I'm totally down!" Damon agreed. "How are we gonna do this?"

Razi snapped his fingers, "I got it! Another demon!"

Damon shook his head, "No, Razi. No more goddamn monsters."

"You couldn't even control the last one", Zena added.

The beaver could remember how out of control the last demon he summoned had gotten. "No it'll be different this time." He used the wheels on the desk chair he was sitting in and rolled them over to a desk. He began to flip through the pages of a book that set on the desk. "This time I'll summon a Hell Hound."

Nack rose an eyebrow at the strange name and crossed his arms. "Hell Hound?"

A sinister look formed on his face, "That's right. This time it'll obey me like a loyal dog should!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Julie-Su: Calm down will you?**

**Rouge: I can't help it! I'm nervous!**

**Nails: Just look at me! I'm all pink and fluffy!**

**Tonya: We're doing this for Rouge remember?**

**Nails: Is everything okay, Tikal? You've been avoiding me since…**

**Tikal: It's not your fault. It's me…**


	24. Chapter 24

**CHAPTER 24**

The next morning was the day of Shadow and Rouge's wedding. Everyone was gathered at the church meeting and talking with one another as they waited for the ceremony to start.

In a small room within the church, Rouge was getting herself ready.

A pink female echidna who was around Rouge's age was helping her to put on her wedding dress. She wore a green dress that came down to her ankles and blue high heeled shoes.

Rouge stared at herself in the mirror in front of her while she practiced saying her vows. "Okay how about this, Julie?" She cleared her throat as she began to say her vows. "I, Rouge, take you, Shadow, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold…" She was then stopped by the echidna woman.

She looked up at Rouge with an arched brow, "Hold on…wife?"

The bat's eyes widened as she realized she spoke a line that belonged to Shadow.

"You just realized you just…"

"I know! Cut me some slack, Julie-Su! I'm nervous!"

Julie-Su couldn't help but to giggle, "Chill out, Rouge. You're only marrying Shadow. Don't be so nervous."

She couldn't help but to make a small smile. Julie-Su was right. Her and Shadow were like best friends. It didn't make sense for her to get so nervous. But just thought of the wedding itself made her feel uneasy. "I can't help it. My nerves are shot. I just have a bad feeling about today."

Julie-Su continued to help her fix her dress. "Why? Because your parents are total douche bags? Or it is because your ex is in the same building as your fiancé?"

She bit her lip as she mentioned Knuckles, "Can it be both?"

Julie-Su sighed and turned to the white bat. "If you were so freaked out about Knuckles being here then why…"

"Because Shadow said it was okay. He swore that he and Knuckles were somewhat cool with each other. And besides, all that drama was years ago."

"Exactly", Julie-Su agreed. "Shadow and Knuckles are both hotheads but their big boys now. They have us."

She formed a small smile, "You're right. Everything will be okay. And thanks for coming today, Julie. This means a lot."

"Hey what can I say? You and Shad has helped me and Knux out plenty of times. Despite our past drama over the redhead."

She was relieved that Julie-Su had still remained a good friend to her despite when they were both fighting over Knuckles at one time.

"Hey why don't you practice that vow again? I want you to look and sound fucking angelic out there."

She made a nod and agreed that she should practice more. She looked back into the mirror. She once again cleared her voice before saying her vows again. "I, Rouge, take you, Shadow to be my lawful wedded husband…"

In another room at the church, Nails, Tikal, and Tonya stared at each other in disbelief as they looked at their reflection in the mirror in front of them.

"This isn't real…" Nails spoke.

Tikal bit her lip, "This can't be…"

"Just suck it up and be proud ladies", Tonya spoke. "We're not ass kicking women today. Today we are bridesmaids."

Nails couldn't believe what they were all wearing.

They were all wearing bright pink frilly ruffle dresses with the short sleeves being poofy.

"I can't believe this", Nails spoke. "I thought my sister had better taste in fashion than this."

Tikal made an uneasy look, "It could've been worse. What if Rouge had the same fashion taste as Shadow?"

"True", Tonya knew how Shadow had always liked to dress. Shadow always wore gothic and punk attire, but as the years went on, she had noticed that he had eased up and began dressing a little casual. Now he mostly wore skinny jeans and collared shirts. She figured he had calmed down with it because he had just simply wanted to look more mature and professional. "We could all look like we're going to a funeral instead of a wedding."

Nails made a disgusted look and crossed her arms. "Just look at me! I'm bright and fluffy!"

Tonya arched an eyebrow at the black bat. "Come on, Nails. Looking like cotton candy for a day won't kill you."

Nails flashed her eyes over at the cat woman, "It might."

"Come on, Nails", Tikal spoke. "We're doing this for Rouge."

Nails made a heavy sigh, "You're right. I'll do it for my little sister."

Tonya made a small smile, "That's the spirit. Speaking of which, I'd better find her to see if she's doing okay."

When they saw Tonya leaving the room, there was a strange awkward moment between Nails and Tikal.

Tikal began to get more and more nervous as she stood in the room with Nails. "Um, I'd better go with her." Before she could grab the doorknob, Nails grabbed her wrist.

"Hold on, Tikal."

The orange echidna turned to her in confusion.

A sympathetic look had formed on Nails' face, "Ever since we kissed, you've been acting weird around me. Like you've been trying to avoid me."

She bit her lip as she knew that Nails was right, "Um." She couldn't bring herself to face her.

She saw how she was reacting thought that she had done something wrong. "It's my fault isn't it? I came on too strong. Look Tikal, I know you're probably really confused because you've never had feelings like this before. Especially when you've never been in a relationship. If you don't feel the same way, I understand. I just don't want to lose you as a friend."

She looked down to the floor sadly, "It's not you Nails, it's me."

The bat tilted her head in confusion, "Huh?"

"It's just…there's so much about me that you don't know. And if you knew, I'm just afraid you wouldn't want to be around me anymore. Because…" She looked back at her with tears swelling in her eyes. "You're the first real person I've ever gotten this close to…ever."

"…Tikal…"

"If I tell you what I really am…oh I don't know. I've never felt like this before."

Nails cupped her cheeks and made her look up at her, "Sweetie, I'll accept you for who you are. You gave me a chance when I said that I've changed my ways. Now it's my turn."

Tikal thought that Nails seemed like she would take things well if she told her what she really was. She slowly took her hands away from her cheeks and gave her a serious look. "If you think I'm in my twenties or something, then you're wrong. I'm actually over five thousand years old. I died at the age of eighteen so my psychical appearance never changed."

The bat's eyes widened in shock, "…What? Are you…like Ker? A demon?"

She shook her head, "Ker died as a human being but by being brought back to life, he was reborn as a demon taking the form as a human. I on the other hand had lived my life on Angel Island. I was apart of an echidna tribe. We specialized in holy magic. We used our knowledge and powers to defeat evil spirits and demons. I, however, was very special. I could summon a powerful bow and arrow that could vanquish almost any demon. I even had a special bond with the Master Emerald. I was a valued asset to my tribe, until that unfortunate day when I was killed by a demon."

"How awful…"

Tikal made a slow nod as she remembered bits and pieces of the day before she had gotten killed.

"But how were you brought back to life?"

The echidna shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure exactly. I just found myself in a strange cave back on Angel Island that day Knuckles and Julie-Su found me. They took me in and soon I united with The Chaotix detectives. During an incident, I had my life taken from me again. But then I discovered something…"

Nails listened closely as she told her story.

"I discovered I had came back to life and I didn't know how. I just did. I can't die, Nails." A tear streamed down her cheek, "I can never die…"

"You're immortal? That sounds pretty sweet."

"It's not! She shouted while sobbing, "I have to continue living in this world forever. Watching all of my friends live their lives and die but I'll still be stuck living in this damned world always and alone." She kneeled down to the floor and began to cry softly. "I'd give anything…" She sniffed, "…To become mortal again and live a normal life." She then felt Nails' warm embrace.

"You may be an immortal soul for the rest of your life but you have to look at things like this…"

She sniffed while Nails hugged her.

"It's best to spend time with the people you love now than later regretting it when everyone you've cared for is gone."

She watched as Nails slowly pulled away from her. She looked at her with tears still flowing down her cheeks.

"Sweetie, I don't care what you are. You mean so much to me because you've brought me nothing but happiness since the day I met you."

She sniffed, "…Do you really mean that?"

She made a nod, "You are the light to my darkness, sweetie." She saw her reach out to her and began to wipe the tears from her face.

"Even though we won't be together forever, I'm still happy I met you, Nails." She placed her hand on top of hers.

She made a warm smile towards her. "Okay enough tears and junk." She stood from the floor and helped Tikal to her feet. "Let's not be late to the party." She walked over to the door, "Shall we get going?"

Tikal walked over to her and gave her a small peck on the lips.

Speechless, Nails gave her a surprised look.

The smiling orange echidna turned to her with a huge blush on her face. "Now we can go."

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Espio: Tonya, I still care about you a lot.**

**Tonya: Espio…**

**Midnight: Charmy, you made it!**

**Charmy: Your new leader…is selfish…**

**Shadow: Knuckles?**

**Knuckles: Rouge…she deserves the best**...


	25. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER 25**

Tonya roamed around the huge church looking for Rouge until she had suddenly bumped into a purple male chameleon. Her heart raced as she looked up at him once she did, she quickly looked away from him. She tried not to make eye contact with him. "Oh, Espio! I-I'm sorry. I was just looking for Rouge…"

When he saw her about to walk away, he had decided to stop her. "Tonya, wait!"

She suddenly stopped in her tracks and spun around to him.

"Look I know things have been weird since we broke up but…I don't want us to stop being friends."

She was relieved that Espio wasn't upset with her and still wanted to talk to her. "…Me too, Espio."

"Tonya, I…I still care about you and a lot…"

"Espio…"

The chameleon paused and waited for her to speak.

"After what had happened between us, I think we should just stay friends."

It had hurt him a little to know that Tonya still wanted to be just friends with him. He tried to look like he was perfectly fine but deep down, he still had feelings for her. He made a slow nod, "…Oh yeah. I totally agree."

She made a small smile, "I'm glad you understand, Espio." She glanced around, "Well, I'd better go find Rouge."

"Uh yeah. I still gotta find Shad."

Before they parted ways, they were about to lean in and hug each other until they realized what they were about to do and stopped each other. They thought hugging would be way too informal. So they then just decided to give each other a simple handshake and carried on.

Meanwhile, Appex and Ker were sitting next to each other on the wooden benches in the corridor of the church.

Appex looked over to Ker in annoyance who was starting to softly cry. "What's wrong with you?"

Ker wiped some of the tears from his face. "I've never been to a wedding before. I'm just so happy that two people who love each other so much are finally getting married. They'll be together for the rest of their lives."

The red porcupine looked over to him with an irritated look, "…Are you fucking kidding me? The wedding hasn't even started yet."

"Yeah", Ker sniffed. "But this is such a beautiful occasion."

He turned away from him and crossed his arms. "…And now I want to kill myself."

Midnight who was sitting beside Anita, had suddenly heard a horrible cough coming from her. He looked over to her in concern, "That sounds like a nasty cough. Are you all right, Anita?"

The pink hedgehog gave the wolf a small smile letting him know not to worry about her. "Oh yes Midnight, I'm fine. Something is just in my throat." She stood up from the wooden bench, "I think I'll go get something to drink."

"Okay." When he saw her leave her seat, he watched her walk over to the drink table where Jack and Garnet were. He glanced around until he spotted a black and yellow male bee sitting in a far corner by himself. He decided to walk over to the bee.

The bee shifted his eyes and saw Midnight standing next to him.

Midnight made a friendly smile, "Is this seat taken?"

The bee had thought that Midnight wanted to sit next to him, but he really and truly didn't care if he did or not. "Does it look taken?"

And with that bitter answer, Midnight decided to sit next to him anyway. He still tried to remain friendly towards the bee. "I'm so glad you could make it, Charmy."

"Yeah well Margaret won't shut up about how she's not coming to the wedding."

A sweat drop appeared on the side of his head. "She wasn't really invited was she?"

"Nope."

He had noticed that Charmy really wasn't making any eye contact with him. "But I'm glad you're here. We all are. You worried us."

He had made a sarcastic laugh, "Yeah everyone's just so happy because they think everything is going so well. Everyone is just so blind…"

"…I don't understand."

"…Your new leader…is selfish", he spoke in a cold tone.

Midnight's jaw practically dropped as he couldn't believe the shocking things Charmy was saying. Before he could reply to him, he suddenly heard yelling. He looked around until he saw Anita arguing with Rouge's parents.

Espio saw them arguing as well and nervously bit his lip at the sight. "Crap! Not again! I gotta find Shadow." He ran off and decided to find Shadow before things had gotten any worse.

Meanwhile in another room of the church, Shadow had just finished getting himself dressed. He looked at his reflection in the mirror in front of him. He was wearing a black tuxedo with black dress shoes to match. He didn't want to admit to himself, but he was nervous. He began to overanalyze everything. He sighed heavily, "I can't believe this is actually happening", he spoke in a low tone. He was startled when he suddenly heard knocking on the door. He spun around when the door had opened.

"Hello? Is anyone in here ?"

He watched as a red male echidna peeked his head inside of the room.

The echidna's eyes widened when he saw Shadow standing in the room giving him a confused look. "Oh sorry! I was looking for the bathroom. Mind if I come in?"

The hedgehog shook his head, "No not at all."

When he stepped inside of the room, he closed the door behind him. He observed at how Shadow had looked in his tuxedo. "Fancy suit."

He tried to form a friendly smile towards Knuckles' attempt to acting nice towards him. He saw that Knuckles was dressed in a blue suit and wearing black dress shoes. "Thanks."

"Congratulations by the way. It's good to see you settling down and with a great woman like Rouge."

"Yeah…thank you."

He could tell that everything had felt awkward so he had decided that it was probably best to leave. "Well uh I should get back to the others…" Before he could leave, he heard Shadow call out to him.

"Knuckles, wait…"

The echidna spun around to the hedgehog and gave him his full attention.

"I'm really glad you came. It means a lot that you're supporting me and Rouge."

The echidna placed his hands in his pants pockets as he continued to talk to Shadow. "Well, Rouge is a one of a kind woman. She deserves nothing but the best…I'm glad she has someone like you to look out for her and I mean that."

Shadow couldn't believe his ears. Knuckles was actually being nice to him. He was really expecting for him to act really immature towards him but he was actually putting his differences behind him and tried to make peace with him. He looked at everything all wrong. He judged Knuckles wrong. "Knuckles, I know you and I have never been on the best of terms…

"Yeah", Knuckles spoke with a smile. "We literally tried to kill each other over one girl."

When he saw Knuckles smiling about it, he couldn't help but to look back at the past and smile in amusement from it as well. "I wanted to let you know without any girl drama being involved, I know you're a great guy. Your heart's always in the right place."

Just hearing Shadow talking all these nice things about him had put a warm smile on his face.

"Even when you were with Rouge, you treated her like royalty. You never wronged her."

Knuckles had nodded, "Yeah at first when I found out…I was pissed off with you and then later I got pissed with her because she never told me how she actually felt about the both of us."

He made a slow nod.

"Rouge was definitely in the wrong but…I would never dare think about wronging her."

"…She and I were both wrong and it always came down to me…because I was the one who always ended up hurting her. I treated her like she never had any feelings."

"Shadow…"

"…I took her from you…I don't understand why you don't hate me."

"Because I knew when I first met you two for the first time, that you two belonged together and I just wanted what you would've gave her."

He stood there speechless as he listened to Knuckles.

"She saw something in you that even you couldn't see. She knew you had been hurt. You shut everyone out and thought that the world had turned against you when you lost Faye."

Shadow's heart skipped a beat when Knuckles had brought up his old dead girlfriend.

"But Rouge could see a light inside of you. She didn't believe that you were this cold hearted monster. She knew you could get close and love again. She wanted to help you to become the man you once were."

"Knuckles…"

"If a woman like that can put up with your kind of crap on a daily, then damn it Shadow, you're one hell of a lucky guy."

He saw the echidna smiling at him warmly, "…How did…"

"Trust me. While Rouge and I were together, she talked about you…a lot. I just never put the pieces together right away." He had then saw Shadow extend his hand out to him.

"I'm sorry for what happened between us. Perhaps we can start over?"

His smile had widened on his face. He took Shadow's hand and shook it. "I'd like that a lot." As he shook his hand, he could feel that moment they shared together would mark the moment the two would officially become friends.

The two of them were startled when Espio flung the door open to the room.

"Shadow, there you are!"

The hedgehog looked at the chameleon in confusion, "Espio? What's up?"

"Anita is fighting with Rouge's parents again."

Shadow sighed heavily in disbelief, "Not again!"

Knuckles looked down at the watch that was on his wrist, "Looks like we better get this thing started then."

"Yeah", Shadow agreed. "Let's go." Shadow, Espio, and Knuckles quickly stormed out of the room and decided to head out to get the wedding started.

Meanwhile down in the basement of the church, The Raiders were listening to the soft playing of the piano from the top floor.

Nack turned to Razi who held a leash in his hands. "Ready to crash this thing?"

An evil smirk had formed on Razi's face as he heard a loud growling coming from the creature that was on the other end of the leash. "Oh yeah! It's gonna be one hell of a party!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Rouge: Well here it goes…**

**Shadow: I can't believe this is happening…**

**Nails: My baby sister's so beautiful!**

**Nack: This wedding is boring! How about we make things interesting?**

**Appex: The Raiders?**

**Nack: Until death do you part!**


	26. Chapter 26

**CHAPTER 26**

When Shadow, Espio, and Knuckles had made it out into the corridor of the church, they saw Anita arguing with Jack and Garnet.

Knuckles stared mindlessly at the sight, "Those old people are about to go at it."

In panic, Shadow spun around to Espio, "Espio, break them up and please keep them away from each other. I gotta get this wedding started."

Espio made a nod before they all had split up, "Got it!"

Meanwhile, Tonya had flung the door open to the room Rouge was in.

Rouge and Julie-Su had turned to Tonya while hearing piano music playing outside the room.

The white bat bit her lip anxiously, "…Is it time?"

The purple cat made a small nod, "Yeah, it's time."

Rouge had began to feel even more nervous than she was at first. She didn't even think she could move her feet. She had then felt Julie-Su holding her hand and squeezing it. When she turned to her, she saw her forming a small smile.

"It's okay, Rouge. You can do this."

Rouge had took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves, "Okay here I go."

Meanwhile, Shadow was standing in front of the corridor glancing around the room to see if everything else was going the way it was supposed to. As he looked around, he saw that the entire Chaotix gang had showed up, he also saw Sarah and other few friends that he and Rouge knew. He then saw Espio run up to him and stand beside him. "How is everything?"

The chameleon sighed heavily, "Do you know how hard it is to break up two old women?"

Shadow shifted his eyes over to him, "Anita's in her late fifties."

The chameleon shrugged carelessly, "Same thing?"

"You got that ring?"

"Duh!"

"I'm just checking."

The priest who was a male brown badger had whispered over to Shadow. "Are you ready to begin?" When he saw him nod, he gave the pianist the cue to play the 'here comes to bride' theme.

Everyone stood from their seats and directed their attention at the opposite end of the room. They saw a woman wearing a long and beautiful white dress carrying a bouquet of flowers walking down the aisle with her arm wrapped around her father's arm.

Shadow couldn't take his eyes away from the beautiful white lace dress she was wearing. Even though the white veil was covering her face, he still thought the sight of her was breathtaking.

Nails wanted to tear up over the sight of Rouge. She held Tikal's hand as she tried to fight back her tears. "My baby sister's so beautiful!"

When Jack had led her to the front, he hatefully rolled his eyes at Shadow before walking away.

Shadow tried to ignore him and focused on his beautiful bride. He pulled back the white veil that was covering her face. When he did, he felt like he couldn't take his eyes away from hers. "You look gorgeous, sweetheart."

She placed her hand in his and smiled warmly. "Thank you, Shadow."

The priest had decided to begin the ceremony. He cleared his voice before speaking. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the joining of these two in holy matrimony. Except the bride's parents, does anyone have any reason why these two should not be wed?"

Jack who sat beside Garnet crossed his arms in annoyance. "That damn hedgehog", he growled .

As the ceremony went on, Shadow and Rouge had spoken their vows to each other and had placed the ring on Rouge's finger.

The priest had turned to Shadow. "Do you, Shadow, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? To love, honor, and cherish her through sickness and in health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?"

Shadow turned to her and smiled at her as he held her hands, "I do."

The priest then turned to Rouge, "And do you, Rouge, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband? To love, honor, and cherish him through sickness and in health, through times of happiness and travail, until death do you part?"

She happily smiled at the hedgehog, "I do."

As they watched, Julie-Su leaned her head against Knuckles' shoulder and held his hand.

Espio and Tonya who sat next to each other couldn't help but to glance back and forth at each other.

Nails and Tikal were practically on the edge of tears watching the beautiful event taking place.

Anita was wiping away the tears from her face as she was happy to see Shadow finally getting married.

The priest continued, "You come to me as two single people and you will now leave as a married couple, united to each other by the binding contract you have just entered. Your cares, your worries, your pleasures, and your joys you must share with each other. The best of good fortune to both of you. You may kiss the bride."

As the two leaned in to kiss each other, they and everyone else were startled by a loud crashing sound from a nearby room.

Before anyone could investigate, a door had been busted down by a huge gray furless four legged creature.

Everyone got out of their seats and immediately started to panic at the sight of the creature.

"Oh my God!" Tonya shouted.

Appex saw the drool dripping from the creature's mouth. "What the hell is that?"

Rouge looked over to Shadow in worry. "Shadow?"

He made sure Rouge stood clear of the strange creature. "Stand back!"

The four legged creature hungrily sniffed around until it spotted the wedding cake setting on the table.

Rouge gasped in horror as the creature jumped on the table and began to eat the cake. "The cake!" She and Shadow turned as they heard laughter coming from the room the creature came out of. In shock, they watched as Nack and the rest of The Raiders appear out into the corridor with guns in their hands.

Shadow angrily fixed his eyes onto the purple weasel. "Nack!"

The weasel rested the long barrel of his rifle against his shoulder. "Looks like there was a wedding, but we weren't invited. How rude!"

"What do you want?" Rouge demanded.

"Only to give you your best on your special day. We even went out of our way to get you a new pet." He held up the barrel of the rifle towards Shadow and Rouge. "Until death do you part!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Julie-Su: What the hell is that thing?**

**Ker: How could they be so capable of summoning a demon like this?**

**Knuckles: We gotta stop that thing!**

**Rouge: My dress is ruined!**

**Shadow: They'll all pay for this!**


	27. Chapter 27

**CHAPTER 27**

When Nack had his sights set on Shadow and Rouge, he pulled the trigger and began to fire his rifle at them.

"Get down!" Shadow ducked to the floor along with Rouge so that none of the shots that were fired would hit them.

Once Nack fired his weapon, the rest of The Raiders began to fire their guns around the room sending everyone in panic.

Just hearing the shots being fired had gotten the creature's attention away from feasting on the cake. It jumped down from the table and began to destroy the tables, chairs, and other decorations as it went on its mindless rampage.

Sarah watched in disbelief as the creature carried on. "What the hell is that thing?" Before she could flee from the terrifying situation, she turned to a male brown monkey who was pointing a machine gun at her.

"Mayor Sarah Wish", he spoke with a devious smirk on his face. "Who knew you'd be at this lovely shindig?"

The yellow fox's heart raced when she noticed his finger resting on the trigger.

"I bet we'd be rolling in money if we took Tech City's mayor hostage! How about we take a walk, lady?"

Before she could follow through with his threatening demands, she saw him suddenly fall to the floor. She looked and saw Charmy who had stood there holding a half broken glass vase. She placed a hand to her chest in relief, "Charmy? Thank you."

The bee dropped the remaining piece of the glass vase onto the floor. "Don't mention it."

Rouge was crawling around the floors trying to avoid all of the gun fires. She had then took cover behind a wooden table that was flipped over. "This is a disaster!" She looked around the room that was almost completely wrecked between the strange creature and The Raiders. "The Raiders are here! A demon is on the loose and my dress is getting ruined!" She was then startled when a red male echidna took cover behind the table with her.

"Hey Rouge, long time no see?"

A relieved look had overcame on her face, "Knuckles!"

"Nice wedding", he spoke. "You looked good up there."

"Thanks. It means a lot you came." She and him were then startled by a random gunshot that had almost hit them.

Knuckles glanced around to see if any of The Raiders were around them. "Where's Shadow?"

She shook her head, "I don't know . Somehow I lost him." Her ears perked up as she could hear her mother's distant screams. She turned to Knuckles, "Knuckles, make sure my parents are safe."

He made a nod, "No problem! Go find Shadow."

"Will do." She and Knuckles had then spilt up from each other.

Jack and Garnet were trapped in a corner as the strange creature approached them with its fangs drooling.

Garnet screamed as Jack held her close trying to protect her. "Help us!"

Before the creature could leap at the two, it was hit in the back with a glass plate. It then turned and saw Knuckles standing behind it.

"Get away from them!"

The creature took its attention away from Jack and Garnet and started to approach Knuckles instead.

Knuckles stood in a fighting stance ready to take on the creature until Ker and Julie-Su stood beside him.

Julie-Su couldn't take her eyes away from the menacing creature. "What in God's name…"

Ker clenched his fists at the sight of it, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a Hell Hound."

Knuckles gave him a confused look, "A Hell what?"

"How did The Raiders become so capable of summoning a demon like this?" Ker had asked himself .

Julie-Su had pulled out a handgun from the garter that was around her thigh. "Does it matter? Let's just take that thing out before anyone else gets hurt." She aimed the gun at the creature and fired a shot at it. She was taken by surprise as the demon quickly dodged the bullet and lunged itself at her. She flinched as she awaited for the demon to attack her until Knuckles had stopped it by holding it back. "Knuckles!"

The demon was so strong, he didn't know how much longer he could hold it back. With the help of Ker, it was enough to send the creature flying back.

It didn't take long for the demon to stand back on its feet and come at them again.

As they braced themselves for another attack, they saw the demon suddenly get hit with a powerful gunshot.

The demon kneeled to the floor in pain as blood seeped from its leg.

The group turned to a black wolf who was walking over to them in a calm manner it seemed. "Midnight!"

The wolf held the magnum tightly in his hands, "Close call huh?"

Rouge fell to her knees as she ducked and covered behind another wooden table that was flipped over. She had then realized that a black and red hedgehog was sitting beside her. A relieved look was on her face as she saw the sight of him. "Shadow! Thank God! Do you know how many tables I had to check behind to find you?"

He turned to her after when a gunshot nearly took out his shoulder. "Please tell me you have a gun on you?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance, "You actually think I would have weapons on me on our wedding day?"

He gave her a silent and serious look. He knew better than she did, that no matter what the occasion, she would always have some kind of weapon on her.

She sighed heavily, "You know I do." She pulled her dress up to her thigh that revealed a handgun that was being kept in a holster. She took the gun out of the holster and handed it to Shadow.

"That's my girl", he spoke in relief as he took the gun from her.

While he was studying the gun, she huffed and crossed her arms. "I just knew today was too good to be true. Everything is ruined because of Nack and his squad of super nerds!"

The hedgehog turned to her, "Can this gun be equipped with burst rounds?"

Rouge's mouth hung open in disbelief as she thought Shadow wasn't paying any attention to what she had just said. "…Did you not just hear me? I am very appalled by all of this!"

He sighed heavily and decided to direct his full attention to her. "I'm sorry you feel that way, sweetheart. I really am. But if we don't stop Nack, there's not going to be a wedding because the bride and groom might get eaten by a demon dog and become demon dog shit. Do you want to be a steaming pile of demon dog shit?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance and took out some bullets for the gun. "Okay geez! No need to get all grouchy."

"Sorry, hun. I'll stop being so grouchy when I stop getting shot at!" He and her were both startled by a flying wooden chair that had almost hit them. "Rouge, today!"

"Okay! Okay!" She handed him a few of the special bullets.

Tikal fell to the floor and tried to crawl away from Maxcell who had pointed a machine gun at her.

The chipmunk chuckled deeply, "End of the line, girly."

"Hey!" Nails shouted angrily as she approached the chipmunk. "Get away from my lady!" She held out her hand towards him.

Tikal watched in amazement as the chipmunk flung back into a table and fell to the floor causing him to drop his gun. She had stood to her feet with the help of Nails.

The black bat held her close to her. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

Tikal was so under shock that Nails had used magic in front of her for the first time. "Yes I'm fine. Thank you, Nails."

Anita had her back against the wall as Zena held up a shotgun towards her. "Stay away from me, Zena!"

She laughed deeply, "How sweet of you coming to your only son's wedding. Treasure this moment like it'll be the last thing you're ever going to see." Before she could fire her weapon, she felt a cold metal object being placed at the back of her head.

"Leave her alone, Zena", a cold male voice had demanded.

Zena slowly spun around to face a red male porcupine. "…Appex? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing", he growled. Appex's eyes shifted over to the frightened pink hedgehog, "Anita, run. I got this."

When Anita saw Zena being distracted by Appex, she had decided to listen to him and got away before Zena had attempted to kill her again.

Zena lowered her shotgun and gave the porcupine a bitter look. "Seriously? You're here too? God! You ditch us and now you're hanging out with these stupid detectives? When are you gonna come back to us?"

Appex pushed the barrel of the gun close to her forehead, "Never. Nack is just dragging you along and using you. He doesn't give a damn about you and you know it."

"Shut up! You know nothing, you traitor!"

His eyes widened when he saw her beginning to raise her shotgun.

"I loved you, you idiot!" Before she could pull the trigger and shoot him, he had reacted faster than her and knocked her unconscious to the floor with the end of his gun.

He looked down at her unconscious body and kicked the shotgun out off her reach. "I just wish you would understand, Zena…"

Espio and Tonya ran over to Knuckles, Ker, Julie-Su, and Midnight who were confronted by the demon. "What the?""

Julie-Su turned to the group, "No matter how many shots I fire at that thing, it won't stay down. What do we do?"

Razi stood next to the demon with an evil look on his face. "No matter what you do, you'll never beat my loyal Hell Hound!"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Garnet: …We really need to talk to Rouge about what she does at her job.**

**Razi: No! My Hell Hound!**

**Knuckles: You're in some serious shit now!**

**Shadow: I don't believe this…**

**Nails: Oh my God is that…**

**Rouge:…Sky?**


	28. Chapter 28

**CHAPTER 28**

Nack flipped and kicked tables that were scattered all around the room while he tried to find Shadow and Rouge. "Shadow!" He called, "Come out come out wherever you are!"

"Stop this!"

Nack turned to the priest who was standing behind him and shouting at him.

"Stop this at once!"

Nack approached the priest and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Shut up, you old bastard!" He roughly shoved the badger down to the floor and continued to look around for Shadow. He then decided to just start firing random shots at tables until he was lucky enough to spot Shadow.

Behind one of the tables, Rouge watched as Shadow continued to load the gun with the special bullets. Her eyes widened when she saw gunshots being fired through the table they were behind. The shots had gotten closer and closer to Shadow while he loaded the gun. She didn't know if he had noticed or not so she tugged on his blazer just enough so one of the bullets would miss him.

Once Shadow finished loading the gun, he turned to her. "Time to put a stop to this!"

She watched as he stood behind the table and aimed the gun towards Nack.

Nack's eyes widened in surprise when Shadow fired the gun at him. Fortunate for him, the bullet missed him and shot through the wall that was behind him. He looked at the huge hole in the wall that the bullet made. He panicked at the hole the strange gun had made in the wall. "What the fuck?" He fell backwards as he tried to avoid another shot that was fired at him.

When Shadow saw Nack hit the floor, he thought it was the perfect opportunity to set his sights on the demon that was terrorizing everyone. When he spotted the demon, he aimed the gun and fired a shot at it.

The demon let out a cry of agony as the intense gunshot had made a huge wound in its stomach. Its legs wobbled as it became weakened from the impact of the powerful bullet.

Shadow turned to the group who was watching the demon fall weak. "Hey! Take that thing out!"

Tonya took out her bladed tessens, "I got this!" She ran up to the demon and easily sliced its head clear off its body.

Garnet held her hand up to her mouth as she tried not to get sick from the gruesome sight. "Dear God!"

Jack couldn't believe his eyes as well when he saw Tonya chop the demon's head off and making it seem like there was nothing to it. "We really need to talk to Rouge about her career choices..."

Razi and the rest of The Raider were backing away slowly from the angry group of detectives.

Ker angrily fixed his eyes on the orange beaver, "So much for your precious Hell Hound."

Razi nervously held his hands up. "Oh come on! Can we just talk this out?"

Angrily, Knuckles grabbed the beaver by his shirt. "You're in some serious shit now!"

Razi made an uneasy laugh before shouting out to Nack in panic. "The jig is up, Nack! Abort mission! Abort mission!"

As Nack tried to reach for his rifle while he was on the floor, Shadow had suddenly kicked the gun out of his reach. He looked up at the furious hedgehog with an uneasy look. "Perhaps we should come back another day?"

With his teeth clenched in anger, he picked Nack's body off from the floor and slammed his back against the brick wall. "You ruined my wedding and I'm pissed", he growled.

He tried to get out of Shadow's grip but he was too strong for him. "Come on, Shadow. I was doing you a favor. You don't want to seriously be tied down yet do you? You're like what? Thirty now? Still so young."

The more he had talked, the more furious he had gotten. He once again slammed his back hard against the wall. "Shut up! I should snap your body in half right where you stand!"

"Oh Shad, you don't want to do that. Temper, temper." He started to gasp for air when Shadow had tightly grabbed him around his neck.

"Shadow, no!" Sarah had called out.

The hedgehog's eyes flashed over to the yellow fox woman.

"Don't do it", she spoke in a firm voice.

Even when Sarah demanded him not to take Nack's life, Shadow's grip on him didn't seem to ease up.

Rouge had then attempted to talk him out of it. "She's right, Shad. Even if Nack deserves it, we don't kill."

Shadow sighed heavily in frustration and removed his hand from around his neck.

Everyone's eyes widened when they watched him fling Nack's body over towards the rest of The Raiders.

Sarah approached the group with her fists clenched, "You're not going anywhere. You're under arrest!"

Nack slowly stood from the floor while still holding his neck. "This isn't the end. Not by a long shot!"

Before anyone could do anything, Zena had threw a smoke bomb down to the floor. When the smoke had cleared they all had vanished.

Knuckles looked around to see if he could find any sight of them, but there was no luck. "They're gone."

Shadow crossed his arms, "This wouldn't have happened if you just let me beat his face in."

Rouge had walked over to him and hugged him lovingly as she was proud of him for not killing Nack or any of The Raiders.

The priest had then appeared from behind the huge piano. "Are they…gone?"

Everyone made a slow nod.

The priest put a hand to his chest and sighed in relief. "Thank God! What horrible people!"

"Horrible doesn't even describe them", Espio spoke bitterly.

The priest had picked up a bible from the floor and began to flip through the pages. "Yes well after all the excitement, it seems that I've lost my place."

Shadow held Rouge close to him, "I think we were right here." He leaned over to her and pulled her into a kiss.

Everyone smiled warmly and began clapping as the two shared their first kiss as a married couple.

The priest closed the bible and shrugged his shoulders. "Well yes that works too."

When they two broke their kiss, they smiled at each other happily. Before they could walked down the aisle together, the entrance doors of the church had flung open which had startled everyone.

Everyone turned and saw a white male bat who appeared around Shadow's age standing at the doorway. Everyone's mouths dropped at the sight of the familiar white bat.

Jack and Garnet stared at the male bat in disbelief.

"Oh my God", Jack spoke. "Is that…"

"Sky?" Garnet said in a shocked tone.

Nails stared at the male bat in worry, "Big brother?"

Rouge couldn't believe the sight of him either. Why was her cousin here? "…Sky…"

When Shadow saw the sight of him, the hate he had for him had came flowing back. He held Rouge closer to him while he glared at the white bat who was slowly walking down the aisle. "You…what do you want?" He demanded.

Sky stopped in his tracks and slowly looked around the destroyed church. He had caught sight of everyone silently glaring at him. "Well what do you know? The gang's all here." He looked over at Rouge's parents, "Uncle Jack…Aunt Garnet…" His eyes flashed over to Nails, "My little sister, Nails." He then lastly caught sight of Rouge who was being held close by Shadow. "And my sweet baby sister, Rouge." He arched an eyebrow as he stared at her wedding dress that had a few rips and tears from the attack by The Raiders, "You didn't tell me you were getting married. Of all people, you invite our witch sister, but not me? I'm hurt."

Rouge was so angered by his presence, she could barely even look at him.

"Sky", Garnet had called out. "It's been so long…"

Sky had turned to Garnet with a sympathetic look, "Oh, Aunt Garnet. How I wish you and Uncle Jack were there that day I killed my parents…" A menacing look had taken over his face, "I would've killed you along with them."

Frightened, Jack held Garnet close to him.

"Don't you touch them!" Rouge was held back by Shadow so she wouldn't be attempted to fight him.

"Oh I'm not after them or anyone for that matter", he spoke. "At least not today anyway." He spoke while flashing his fangs.

"I asked once and I won't ask again", Shadow growled. "What do you want?"

He had then made a cunning look, "Why I only came to give you both my blessings. Congratulations Shadow, on your engagement to my sister. It's quite an honor to have you as a brother in law..."

When he saw Sky turn his back to walk away, he angrily shouted at him. "Hold it, Sky! That's not the real reason why you're here!"

The white bat turned back to the furious hedgehog with an evil smile, "You're right. That's not the only reason why I'm here."

Shadow angrily awaited for the real reason why Sky had came to the wedding.

"…How did it feel, Shadow? To lose almost everything you cared about in a single day? Your agency? The old man?"

Charmy bit his lip hard as he tried not to cry when Sky had mentioned Vector.

Sky continued, "I know how you felt. Venerable…weak…truly a failure! All because you thought we could all get along and pretend that we could all be buddy buddy together. And look where that got you. It cost you a lot because your body fell weak in the line of battle."

"No", he growled. "You're wrong. My body never fell weak."

Sky crossed his arms and gave him a sly look.

"…My judgment did. When your boss decides to come out and show himself, you tell him that this war is not over."

Sky had nodded as he began to slowly back away. "I'll be sure to give him the lovely message." He placed his hand on the handle of the door and turned to the hedgehog one last time. "Oh and Shadow? Welcome to the family."

While fuming in anger, he watched as Sky cackled evilly and walked out of the church corridor.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Tikal: I guess your family isn't perfect huh?**

**Nails: What a circus…**

**Rouge: What could my brother possibly be up to?**

**Shadow: I'll give you the family you've always wanted I swear…**


	29. Chapter 29

**CHAPTER 29**

Later that night at Nails' apartment, she and Tikal were in her bedroom.

Tikal was in Nails' bed wrapped snug in the blankets. She stretched her body all over the bed as she got comfortable. She was wearing nothing but an extra large gray t shirt and underwear underneath.

Nails who had walked out of her bathroom, came into the bedroom. She couldn't help but to giggle at the sight of her getting comfortable in her bed. "Comfy?"

In embarrassment, she directed her attention at the black bat who stood at the doorway while wearing her very revealing black lingerie dress. She tried not to stare at her huge breasts that were practically sticking out of her revealing nightgown "…Your bed's just really big and soft."

She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "So the bed you always slept in at Tonya's was as hard as brick?"

She shook her head nervously. She had wondered how she even started to bad mouth Tonya. "No way! It's just um…"

Nails laughed softly as she got in the bed with her. "I know what you're trying to get at. You're just super exhausted from all the excitement today."

She turned to Nails as she laid beside her. "Well yeah. That was one heck of a wedding huh?"

Nails sighed heavily as she remembered all that had happened at the wedding, "Tell me about it. I never thought that Sky would end up crashing the party too."

She had then began to think that she was upset that Sky had said all those things while he was at the wedding. "You must be pretty upset that he's still all evil and stuff?"

She made a small nod and sighed, "I just always knew Sky as a guy with a good head on his shoulders and good morals. Here I am who spent a good portion of my life trying to kill my sister and her friends and now here I am with you guys…"

Tikal smiled warmly at her.

"He was supposed to be the closest sane relative Rouge had left. I'm just…disappointed he turned out to be an evil fuck."

Tikal made an uneasy look, "I guess your family isn't perfect huh?"

She made a small smile, "Tell me about it. I, a witch, Rouge, the kick ass weapon expert, and Sky, the rebellious vampire psycho…what a circus." She made a small laugh, "I'm just glad it's over for now."

Tikal suddenly remembered what Nails did to protect her from The Raiders back at the wedding. "Nails?"

"Hm?"

"…Do you still use magic?"

She paused but then made a small nod, "…Yeah sometimes I do."

"…I thought you stopped?"

"I stopped using black magic. I only used a little magic to protect you, sweetie."

Tikal bit her lip and wasn't sure if she was comfortable about Nails using magic.

Nails saw the worried look on her face, "I won't do it much I swear." She took her hand and stroked her fingers through Tikal's dreadlocks. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Tikal took her finger and caressed her cheek with it gently. "I won't. Not as long as you're with me."

With a warm smile on her face, Nails pulled Tikal's body close to hers and pulled her into a passionate kiss. She took her lips from hers and held her into her arms while she cuddled her.

Meanwhile, Rouge practically collapsed onto the bed in the bedroom exhausted from everything that had happened earlier that day. She laid there on the bed wearing quite a revealing red lingerie dress. "My God! What a day!" She turned to the hedgehog that was sitting on the other side of the bed smoking a cigarette.

He was there wearing only blue jeans sitting on the edge of the bed with his eyes looking down to the floor.

She noticed that he had looked deep in thought. "Are you okay, honey?" She asked while rubbing his back.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it out on an ashtray near a small table that was beside the bed. "Yeah I'm all right", he replied without turning to her. "I'm just thinking about everything that had happened today. The Raiders…Sky…"

She bit her lip as he mentioned her cousin's name.

"Just seeing his face again after all this time just reminded me how much I hate him and the rest of the Silver Fangs."

She sat up from her pillow and hugged him from behind. "Everything will be all right, hun. Don't stress yourself out."

He turned to her and held her hand, "…Yeah I know."

She made a small smile, "Besides, this should be a happy night for us. Our first night as a married couple."

He smiled warmly at her, "Yeah you're right. Even after all the shit's that happened today at least I gained a beautiful wife out of it."

"Oh, Shad." She leaned close to him and brushed her lips against his. She took her lips from his and looked into his eyes. "You know I've been thinking…"

"About what?"

"Well", she began. "I know you and I have both agreed to not really worry about a baby right now but I was wondering…there's still a chance…right?"

He paused and made a small nod, "…Yeah but it's a very small one."

"But it's not totally impossible right? After all, you ended up knocking Faye up."

Shadow remembered when he had later found out that his dead girlfriend died while being pregnant with his child. "…Yeah but that was a long time ago. I was in my teens and my demon powers weren't even at their peak yet."

"…Despite that you've gotten older, do you still think it's worth a shot?"

Shadow held Rouge's hand tightly in his, "Rouge, I love and you I'd do anything to make you happy."

She warmly smiled at him.

He kissed her hand gently, "I'll give you the family you've always wanted. I swear it."

She caressed her hand against the side of his face. "Shadow…"

He held her body close to his, "So what do you say? Let's make a baby."

She smiled in happiness and kissed him passionately as they both fell back upon the bed together. As she kissed him, she ran her hands all over his bare back. His lips had traveled down to her neck. While he kissed her down to her neck, she felt his hand move down to her lower body. She could feel her thong slowly slipping down her legs and off her body.

He kissed and sucked on her neck as he stroked her opening with his fingers. As he stroked her more and more, he could feel her entrance becoming wet.

She let out a small gasp when she felt his fingers slowly slip inside of her wet opening. Slight moans escaped her as she felt his fingers ease in and out of her opening. Her fingers stroked through his quills when he started to lightly nip at her neck. "Bite me, baby."

He did as she wanted and bit her slightly harder than he already was.

A satisfied smile formed on her lips, "Oh fuck yeah", she moaned. "I like that."

"Heh, I know you do, you kinky girl." As his lips traveled down to her chest, he began to take off his pants.

Rouge began to stroke his growing erection after when he took off his pants and tossed them to the floor. She heard him whisper seductively to her.

"Why don't you suck me off a little?"

A sly look had appeared on her face before she gently pushed his body back onto the bed. She made her way down towards the lower part of his body.

A small moan came from him as he felt her mouth covering the tip of his hard member. He ran his fingers through her hair as she ran her tongue all around his shaft.

She took her mouth away from his hard member and took off her red lingerie. After when she tossed it to the floor, she placed herself on top of his lower abdomen.

They both made pleasurable moans as she placed herself deeper and deeper.

He grabbed her hips and helped her to bounce up and down on his hard and erect member.

As she went faster and faster, she could feel herself going into an orgasm. Her moans got louder as his thrusts become more faster and fiercer. "Oh yes! Shadow!" She made deep gasps as soon as she felt his warm essence splash inside of her. She then collapsed onto Shadow's body.

He kissed her forehead and held her body in his arms lovingly.

A week later it was early in the morning at Shadow and Rouge's house. Rouge leaned against the counter in the kitchen. She was deep in thought while she held a small pregnancy test in her hand. She then heard footsteps coming from down the stairs. She glanced over to see Shadow walking into the kitchen.

He glanced over to her and saw her wearing a black fitted t shirt and blue skinny jeans. "Good morning, hun."

"Good morning, sweetie", she spoke in a low tone.

Once Shadow had reached into the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of orange juice, he had his full attention on Rouge. He noticed that she was leaning against the counter looking saddened. "So what are you doing up so early? You know you don't have to work today right?"

She made a small nod without even turning to him, "Yeah I know."

He could tell by the way she was acting that something was wrong. He walked over to her and noticed that she was holding a pregnancy test in her hand. He studied the test and noticed that it had showed one line on it. He rubbed her back and kissed her shoulder. "…It's going to be okay."

"…This is the third one…"

Shadow turned away from her and couldn't help but to become disappointed as well.

She saw how he was reacting to it as well and tried not to bring the both of them down. She tried to force a smile and tossed it into the trash can that was near her. "I'm a little down about it but I'm not trying to lose hope."

He tried to force a smile, "…Me neither." He held her hand and caressed it. "Look, maybe we can see a doctor and could get a few pointers to increase our chances."

She arched an eyebrow, "I thought you hated doctors?"

"I do, but I want this baby just as much as you do." He kissed her hand, "We'll make this happen. I swear it."

She made a nod and warmly smiled at him. When she saw him finishing his glass of orange juice, she glanced at him wearing his work uniform. "So what's on your agenda for today?"

"I'm going to heard over to the Chaotix and meet up with Espio. We're gonna do some close investigating on Nack and the rest of those Raiders."

"I see."

"Yeah since the wedding, their getting more and more reckless. They're hurting people. They need to be stopped."

She made a nod as she agreed with him. "Well I wish you guys the best of luck."

"Thanks, babe", he leaned over to her and kissed her forehead. "Cheer up okay?"

She made a small nod, "I will hun, and be careful." She watched as he opened the door and left the house.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Nack: I wonder what this diamond can really do…**

**Rouge: I can't believe you and Nails are dating!**

**Tikal: I never dreamed in a hundred years I would find anyone as special as her.**

**Nails: I bet you and Shadow have been humping nonstop! **

**Tikal: Making a baby sounds like so much work.**

**Tonya: Awkward…**


	30. Chapter 30

**CHAPTER 30**

Later in Razi's basement, he and the rest of The Raiders were plotting for their next big move.

While Maxcell, Zena, and Damon were discussing what place would be best to rob, Nack was sitting in a desk chair at a desk which was practically covered in monitors.

The weasel held the huge crystal clear diamond in the palm of his hand. He stared at it in admiration. He practically dropped the diamond to the floor when he heard Razi suddenly yell out.

"Eureka!"

With startled expressions, everyone turned to the orange beaver who was sitting at a desk looking in a thick book.

Nack gave the beaver an irritated look, "Give me a fucking heart attack will you!"

The beaver made a sympathetic look towards him. "Sorry, but you gotta take a look at this!"

Nack lazily got up from his chair and walked over to Razi.

"I finally got a little more info on that diamond." Razi glanced through a page of the book. "It says that anyone who posses the diamond will get God like strength."

Nack rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Yeah we knew that already."

"But we haven't tried it yet."

Zena made an uneasy look, "I don't know…when that disgusting spike demon got a hold of it, he went into mega freak mode."

"Yeah", Maxcell added. "If we end up using it, who knows what'll happen."

"We could turn into psychotic monsters", Damon added.

Nack held the diamond up and stared at it, "I guess we'll never know until we try."

Meanwhile, Tonya, Nails, and Tikal were sitting with Rouge in the living room of her and Shadow's house. They all sat around and were drinking hot chocolate. Rouge and Tonya were sitting on the sofa together while Nails and Tikal sat on another sofa together.

Rouge warmly smiled at Nails and Tikal who were holding hands with each other. "I'm so happy for you guys. I can't believe you finally hooked up with each other."

Nails watched as Tikal gently rested her head on her shoulder. "What can I say? She really lit up my world."

Tikal looked up at her happily, "I didn't believe in a hundred years I would find someone as special as her."

"Oh, sweetie", she gave her a small kiss on the lips.

Tonya couldn't help but to feel so out of place in the room. Between Rouge and Shadow and Nails and Tikal, she couldn't help but to feel lonely. She had to admit to herself that she did miss Espio. "You guys are so lucky to have something so special. I'm glad you're so happy with each other", she spoke in a weak tone.

Nails smiled and then turned to Rouge, "Okay enough about us. How about you, sis? How does it feel to be Mrs. Hedgehog?"

Rouge took a sip from her mug and shrugged her shoulders. "Not so different really. We were always together most of the time anyway. With us always over at each other's houses and arguing half of the time, it already felt like we were a married couple."

Tonya nodded in agreement, "That's true. You guys were always with each other. In and outside of work."

Tikal glanced around the room and then turned to Rouge. "So where's the hubby anyway?"

"Oh, he and Espio are out trying to find more info on The Raiders", Rouge explained.

"That's good. I hope they find some good leads. Those Raiders are a pain in my ass", Tonya spoke.

Nails made a nod, "Agreed." She then turned to Rouge, "Anyway Rouge, have you and Shadow been having any luck on that baby?"

Rouge's ears flopped down and her eyes wandered to the floor in sadness. "Not really. It feels like we're getting nowhere."

"I'm just shocked you're not already knocked up", Tonya spoke. "When you guys first started seeing each other, you couldn't keep your hands off each other."

Rouge took her eyes away from the floor and turned to Tonya. "Well back then I was on the pill. Shadow wore a condom like once, but that was for other reasons." She bit her lip as she remembered the real reason why he had wore a condom that one time while the two had sex. "Near the end before Knuckles found out I was cheating, Shadow and I were on edge with each other. He didn't trust me because he thought I was fucking around with other men besides him and Knuckles. That was the only time when he made me feel so disgusting."

"…Were you messing around with anyone else?" Tikal asked.

Rouge shook her head, "No! It was only him and Knuckles. Shadow was just pissed off that I had started distancing myself from him when I started to feel super bad about cheating on Knuckles with him."

Tikal couldn't believe that any couple would go through so many hardships together and end up becoming a married couple. "Sounds like you two had a bumpy relationship."

"Yeah", Rouge agree. "I'm just glad it's all in the past."

"I just can't believe Shadow is down for kids." Tonya shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I just can't imagine him being…fatherly."

"Well there's a first time for everything."

Nails saw Rouge stand from the sofa and place her mug of hot chocolate on the counter in the kitchen. She smirked towards her when she saw her coming back into the living room. "I bet you two have been humping like rabbits trying to get that baby."

Rouge gave Nails an annoyed look, "Shadow and I haven't been having sex that much." When she sat back down on the sofa, the bottom part of it caved in from where she was sitting causing her to fall through the sofa.

Tonya's eyes widened at the white bat and quickly stood up from the sofa. "Now I'm too freaked out to sit anywhere in this house."

Rouge just sat in the broken spot of the sofa in annoyance. "…Okay maybe we've been overdoing it just a little."

Nails and Tikal decided to stand from the sofa they were sitting on as well.

Nails turned to Rouge who still didn't move from the spot she sat in. "Sweetie, why don't you guys just go see a doctor or something? There's gotta be some kind of shortcut with this baby making thing."

With a slight struggle, Rouge had stood from the sofa. "He did mention something about it earlier this morning. So hopefully that'll shed a little light on what we can do to increase our chances."

"That's good to hear, Rouge." Tonya spoke, "But one more thing…"

"What?"

"I'm gonna need you to tell me all the places you and Shadow fucked in the Chaotix because I know you've been fucking at work too."

Rouge nervously looked away from Tonya, "…We clean up after each other."

With their mouths hung open they all gave Rouge a disturbed look.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: Are you doing okay with the break up thing?**

**Espio: She only wants to stay friends with me…**

**Shadow: She misses you…**

**Espio:…What?**


	31. Chapter 31

**CHAPTER 31**

Later, Shadow was walking alongside Espio through a quiet neighborhood.

As he walked, Espio was flipping through the pages of a school yearbook. "This is awesome that we got a hold of Razi's old high school yearbook."

"Yeah", Shadow agreed. "How lucky are we to get that from one of his old teachers?"

"Very", he continued to glance through the book. "I even see Damon and Allan in here." He made a chuckle, "You think they're nerdish now? You should take a look at them back in high school."

"His old science teacher said he wasn't really close with a lot of his classmates. He mostly hung around Damon and Allan."

Espio took his eyes away from the book, "Well since Damon is with him and Allan being…deceased, how are we supposed to dig up more info on him?"

Shadow took the book from him and flipped through the pages until he came across a picture of a teenage fox girl. He pointed to her picture and gave the book back to him, "Her."

Espio studied the girl closely and read her name that was under her picture, "Amy Guller?"

He made a nod. "Yup. His old teacher said that Razi spoke with her from time to time. Maybe she can give us some helpful hints on where we can find him and the rest of The Raiders."

"Hopefully", he shut the book and glanced over to Shadow and decided to change the subject. "So how's it going with the baby thing?"

He shook his head and sighed heavily, "Not so well."

"I'm sorry to hear that, dude."

"She's starting to get all depressed about it…"

"Well if it doesn't work out, have you guys considered adoption?"

"Yeah we talked more than enough about it and we just both agreed that we want our own child."

"Ah I see."

"I think her mother's giving her hell about it too which isn't helping." Shadow knew that her parents weren't thrilled to know that he wouldn't be able to give her a family.

"You know her parents are just trying to discourage you guys. Just don't listen to them."

He shook his head sadly, "Well it's not just that. I just…I just feel like I'm failing her as a husband."

"Don't say that, dude. Rouge will still love you regardless of what happens and you know that."

He tried to force a small smile, "You're right. Thanks, Es." He decided to change the depressing subject, "How are you holding up?"

He figured that he was referring to what was going on between him and Tonya. "Tonya and I are talking, but as far as getting back together…she said she just wants to remain friends."

"…She misses you."

The chameleon gave him a confused look, "Huh?"

He turned to him with a smile, "She misses you."

"How would you know?"

"The way she looks at you at work. I can just tell."

Espio arched an eyebrow and thought otherwise.

"Even if she doesn't show it, she still loves you, Espio."

"If she misses me and loves me so much then why are we not back together yet?"

"Just give her some space. If you leave her alone, she'll come back to you. Just give it time."

He thought that it had been long enough already. It was now going a little over two weeks since their breakup. "Okay whatever you say." He then saw Shadow stopping in his tracks and looking at a two story white house.

"Well this is it. Amy's house."

He walked onto the porch along with Shadow and watched him ring the doorbell. "I bet she's all hideous and fat now since she left high school."

Shadow turned to him in annoyance, "They graduated like seven years ago."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Hey a lot can happen in seven years."

When Shadow heard footsteps approaching from the inside, he hushed Espio.

They both waited until the door slowly opened. Standing at the doorway was a pink fox woman with blonde short hair. Even in her late twenties, she still looked like she belonged back in high school.

Espio's mouth hung open in disbelief because she looked like she hadn't changed at all. "Damn she still looks hot!" He suddenly felt Shadow punch him in the arm, enough to make him wince a little.

The fox woman rose an eyebrow at the two. "Who the hell are you?"

Shadow pulled out his badge and showed it to her. "Good evening. I'm Detective Hedgehog." His eyes wandered over to Espio, "And this is Detective Chameleon." He turned back to her, "We work for the Chaotix Detective Agency."

She crossed her arms, "Detectives? Like cops?" She began to have a paranoid look on her face like she had done something wrong. "What's gong on? What did I do?"

He tried to calm her down when she had started to get nervous. "You didn't do anything. We just came to ask you a few questions about an old classmate of yours."

"Um okay?"

Espio opened up the yearbook and flipped to the page that showed Razi's picture. He showed his photo to the woman. "Does this guy look familiar to you?"

She rose an eyebrow at the picture of the beaver, "That's Razi."

"So you do know him?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah how could I forget that little weirdo? He sat beside me in science class with his other geeky friends."

"You do know that he's a wanted criminal along with a few other fugitives?"

She nodded, "Yeah it's all over the news. I can't believe it but at the same time I shouldn't be surprised. He got bullied a lot back in school. He took a lot of shit from people but he always remained quiet. He barely spoke to anyone except Damon and Allan."

"What's your relationship him?"

"Razi and I talked little to none. We weren't even friends. I was just a super popular cheerleader who needed to pass science to stay on the squad."

"So you and Razi never associated with each other at all?" Espio asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I mean we said hey to each other a few times. There was only one time we maybe had an intense conversation."

"I know this was awhile ago but can you remember what you two were talking about?" Shadow asked.

She placed her hands on her hips, "Of course. I remember every word. He asked me to go to prom with him. I told him no and I walked off."

"He just asked you to prom?" Espio asked.

She made a nod, "Yeah the little weirdo tried to ask me out. I mean why would I go to the prom with that? All he did was stare me down in class all the time." She sighed heavily, "What a freak!"

It didn't take much for Shadow to figure out that Amy was indeed one of the many students that had bullied Razi. "Do you know what happened to him after school? Like did he move to a different house or city?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "As far as I know, he's always lived with his grandmother which is only a couple blocks from here. But his grandmother passed awhile ago and after when all that happened, the house he was staying in just disappeared."

"It…disappeared?" Espio repeated blankly.

She nodded, "I know it sounds crazy but the house isn't there anymore. There's no signs of renovation or anything. I don't know what happened to it. No one does."

Shadow and Espio gave each other puzzled looks as they thought the story was hard to believe.

She suddenly saw Shadow hand her a pen and paper.

"Could you give us the address of where his old house used to be?"

"Um sure but I'm telling you, you're not going to find anything over there."

While she was writing down Razi's house address, Espio pulled Shadow to the side so he could talk to him more privately. "Shad, this girl's story sounds crazy. How can a house vanish into thin air?"

"That's why we're taking a trip to Razi's old stomping ground. There's gotta be something over there that'll steer us in the right direction that will lead us to The Raiders. There just has to be."

"Okay here it is", Amy had spoke as she held the paper out towards Shadow and Espio.

Shadow walked back over to her and took the paper from her hand. "Thank you for taking this time to talk to us."

The pink fox made a nod. "Anytime I guess."

Shadow had then noticed her staring at him in interest. "…Um is something wrong?"

She began to give him a flirtatious look. "You know you're kinda cute."

He was taken by surprise that she had suddenly began to hit on him, but he tried to ignore it and act like he was oblivious about it. "Oh? Thanks", he spoke in an uncaring tone.

She placed a finger to her chin, "You wanna do something later?"

He paused and gave her an irritated look as she tried to flirt even more with him. "…I'm married."

She crossed her arms and angrily huffed. "Man! All the good ones are always taken!"

Espio had then jumped into their conversation. "You know I'm…" He was then suddenly pulled away from her by Shadow.

"You're taken too!"

Her eyes widened as the annoyed hedgehog practically dragged the chameleon off of her porch and down the sidewalk.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Nack: What the hell?**

**Razi: It's Shadow and Espio!**

**Zena: How did they find us?**

**Maxcell: Holy crap! They know! They're on to us! It's over!**

**Shadow: Charmy, are you all right?**

**Charmy: You're a selfish man, Shadow…**


	32. Chapter 32

**CHAPTER 32**

After Shadow and Espio got finished talking with Razi's old classmate, they both decided to head over to Razi's old neighborhood. They kept walking until they came to an empty looking yard that was distanced from the rest of the houses within the neighborhood.

Shadow held the paper that had Razi's house address written on it. He looked away from the paper and back at the empty yard. "Well this is it."

Espio gave him an unbelievable look as he glanced around the yard. "This? This is it?"

"Yeah that's what it says." He gave the paper to Espio so he could look at the address for himself.

Espio saw Shadow looking and observing around the yard. "You've gotta be kidding me. There's nothing here but grass…lots of damn grass. There's nothing to look at."

The hedgehog turned to the chameleon in annoyance. "Can you just help me to take a quick look around?"

Espio sighed as he decided to help Shadow look for any clues. "Fine!"

Inside of Razi's basement, he and the Raiders practically jumped out of their chairs when an alarm had went off near where the computer monitors were.

Maxcell practically jumped out of his skin when he heard the alarm. "What the hell?"

Razi's heart raced as he dashed over to the desk that had the monitors setting on it. He ran over to the computer and typed a code on the keyboard to shut off the alarm.

Nack and the rest of the group surrounded Razi. "What the hell is going on?"

"We have intruders", Razi continued to type on the keyboard until one of the monitors had showed them a video of the front yard of the house.

Everyone gasped in horror as they saw footage of a purple chameleon and a black and red hedgehog wandering around the seemingly empty front yard.

Razi's heart skipped a beat as he watched them both walk around the front yard. "It's Shadow and Espio! They must've tripped the security system."

Zena grabbed Razi by the collar of his shirt. "What the hell are they doing here? How did they find us?"

The nervous beaver shrugged his shoulders. "I-I don't know!"

"Well get them away from here before they find us!" The panicking squirrel yelled.

Nack held the diamond tightly in his hand with a smirk on his face, "No, let them come. I wanna take this diamond out or a test drive…especially on that hedgehog."

Damon rested his hand on Zena's shoulder as he tried to calm her down. "Chill out. They look like they haven't figured out that the house is camouflaged."

Maxcell pointed at the screen, "Yeah they're backing off. We're in the clear."

Razi shook his head, "No, we're far from being in the clear. They're getting suspicious. They know something's up." He turned to the group in worry, "It'll only be a matter of time."

Maxcell nervously watched Shadow and Espio walking away, "No, we can't get found. We came so far! I can't go back to prison!"

Nack turned to everyone who was panicking. "Everyone calm the fuck down! It's obvious they're getting closer to putting the pieces together. Looks like we better start packing…"

Outside of the house, Espio turned back to Shadow who was still staring at the empty yard. He crossed his arms as he began to grow impatient with him, "Give it up, Shad. There's nothing here."

The hedgehog slowly shook his head, "Something's here. We just can't see it…"

Espio saw Shadow beginning to walk away from the yard and start walking back down the sidewalk. He followed behind him. "Hey! Wait for me!"

The next day, everyone was at the Chaotix headquarters. They were all gathered in a conference room taking in feedback from Shadow and Espio's investigation from yesterday. They were all sitting in chairs next to one another around a large table.

Midnight placed a finger to his chin, "That's odd. You both didn't see a thing?"

Shadow stood in front of the group of detectives while they all discussed where The Raiders could possibly be. He shook his head, "Nothing."

"The yard was clear", Espio spoke. "No tire tracks, no signs of rubble if the house was destroyed. It was just grass, grass, and more grass in an already ghetto and halfway deserted neighborhood."

Appex thought it was almost hopeless to find any more evidence that could help them find The Raiders. "Well that sucks. The only evidence we have on those guys is completely useless."

"Not quite…" Charmy had spoken.

Everyone directed their attention to Charmy when he had began to speak.

"If anything we didn't learn from The Villains, we know they were big on advanced technology and weaponry", Charmy spoke.

Tonya scratched the side of her head, "Yeah and?"

Charmy continued, "If we had a device that could pick up massive energetic waves, we could definitely detect if there's something there or not."

Rouge was impressed with Charmy's theory. "That's not a bad idea!" She turned to Shadow and had hoped he had agreed. "Shadow?"

The hedgehog shrugged his shoulders, "I don't see why we can't give it a go." He turned to Charmy, "Charmy?"

The bee turned to the hedgehog giving him his attention.

"You think you could make something like that anytime soon? The sooner we find the douchebags, the better."

The bee made a small nod, "Yeah no problem."

Late that afternoon, it was time to close the agency. Everyone had left and headed home.

Shadow was sitting at the desk in the lobby typing on the computer until Rouge had came behind him and hugged him.

"You still working?" She asked as she pulled away from him and sat down in his lap.

He placed his hand on her waist while she sat on him, "Yeah I'm still hard at work. I'm the manager now. I kinda don't have a choice but to work harder."

"Well even you need a break sometime", she spoke in a seductive tone. She leaned her head closer to his and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

He lifted the bottom of her shirt slightly and began to caress her bare waist as his tongue played with hers.

She ran her hands across his chest gently and felt his hand travel down to the lower region of her body.

He ran his hand over her bare leg and had traveled up the inside of her black skirt towards her thigh. He had then grabbed her butt roughly causing her to escape a few moans. When he felt her hands travel downwards, he noticed that she had tried to unbuckle the belt to his pants. He took his lips from hers and had decided to stop before things had proceeded any further. "Babe, we can't. I gotta finish up."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and heavily sighed. "How much longer are you going to be?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I'll probably be here all night."

Her eyes widened in disbelief, "What?" She had then heard chuckling coming from him.

"I'm kidding. I'll leave in another hour or so."

"Do you want me to wait for you?"

He shook his head, "No you can go on without me. I'll meet you at home."

She made a sympathetic look. "Are you sure?"

He made a nod and smiled, "Yeah babe, I'm sure. I'll be fine."

She made a small smile, "Fine, but I expect to see my husband to come home sometime tonight."

"I'll be there I swear. Just be sure to warm up that bed for me when I get there."

She giggled softly, "I sure will, honey." She leaned in to kiss him one last time before she had gotten off of him.

He playfully smacked her butt as she got off of him, "I love you and be careful going home."

A small blush had formed on her face as she turned to him one last time before heading out the door. "I will and same goes for you."

When she had finally left, he continued to work on the computer until he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He just knew everyone had went home. So who was in the building other than himself? Slowly and quietly, he stood from the chair and pulled out the handgun from the black holster that was around his leg. As the footsteps had gotten closer to him, he could tell that whoever was in the building was about to walk out into the lobby. He held the gun tightly by his side and watched as a yellow and black bee approached from behind the corner. He sighed heavily in relief at the sight of the bee, "Oh God, Charmy. It's only you."

Charmy watched as Shadow placed his gun back in his holster. "…Yeah…who else did you think it was?"

"Sorry I thought everyone had already left. What are you still doing here anyway?"

He pulled out a big and gray strange remote and handed it to him. "I was finishing up that energy device for you so you can take one last look around Razi's old yard."

He held the device in his hand and observed it. "You finished it? That's great." He looked back up at him. "Thanks. This'll help us out a lot."

Charmy made a small nod, "You're welcome." He turned away from him and began to walk towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Shadow called the bee back before he could leave. "Charmy, wait."

Charmy had stopped in his tracks and slowly spun back around to face the hedgehog. He watched him walk up to him with a concerned look.

"…Charmy, are you all right?"

He somehow knew that Shadow was going to ask why he was acting so different around him and everyone else. "…Why do you ask?"

He slightly hesitated, "It's just…you've been acting so…different since Vector passed. It's been months and you're still acting strange."

He made a look on his face that looked like Shadow had offended him. "…Strange?"

Shadow made a small nod, "You're quiet and you're barely cracking a smile anymore and usually you're full of laughter."

"I used to huh?" He spoke bitterly as his eyes wandered away from him.

"You're so distant with everyone now and it's kind of scary…are you okay?"

He shook his head and turned away from him, "…No nothing's wrong." He started to walk back towards the door.

When he saw him about to leave, he refused to let him walk out without finally talking to him about his problem. "Don't you walk away from me, Charmy! I want you to talk to me!"

He turned back around and angrily glared at him. "There's nothing to talk about!"

He had suddenly noticed that Charmy was beginning to act hostile towards him. "What do you mean? Something's going on with you! What's the problem? Why are you acting this way?"

"I said I'm fine damn it!" The bee snapped.

Shadow paused as he was taken by surprise from Charmy's reaction. He had never seen him so fueled with anger before.

"If you want what's best for me then you will stay the hell away from me!"

Shadow couldn't believe how angry and frustrated he was. Something was indeed clearly bothering him. "…What?"

"I don't know what Vector saw in you!" He shouted, "All you do is cause pain and death all around you! That's what got your father, Faye, and Vector killed!"

Shadow could feel his heart shatter from Charmy's sudden and hurtful words. "…Charmy…."

"Do me a favor and just stay out of my life!"

"Charmy!" After being put in shock, he watched as Charmy stormed out of the building.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: That was too close…**

**Tikal: Oh, Nails! I didn't know you were in the shower!**

**Nails: There's no need to act so shy, sweetie.**

**Tikal: I-I never done this before…**

**Nails: This is going to be fun. I promise you…**


	33. Chapter 33

**CHAPTER 33**

Early the next morning, Shadow decided to take the device Charmy had made and test it to see if there was truly anything but an empty front yard. The morning was freezing cold and foggy. It was a sure sign that it had felt more like winter. It was so cold, he could see his own breath.

Shadow was wearing his black trench coat along with his usual work uniform that had a gold armband pinned on the right arm of the coat. The golden armband he wore had a kanji written on it that read 'leader.' The armband once belonged to Vector, but since he had passed and Shadow had now took over the Chaotix, he decided to start wearing it.

As he walked on the grass that had frost on it, he held out the strange device in front of him. He stopped immediately as the device had began making a loud beeping noise. He lowered the device and held it by his side. He looked around on the ground and found a rock that could fit in the palm of his hand. He threw the rock in front of him and had then heard a noise, like glass shattering. After hearing that, he now knew for sure that something was there. He used the device to once again pick up strong energy waves. He waved the device around until it began beeping again when he had held it up at a strange yard gnome that was setting on the ground across from him. He walked over to the odd yard ornament and turned it upside down to look under it. He arched an eyebrow when he saw a strange small black device with a red light. He pulled it off from the bottom of it and held it in his hand. He clenched it tightly in his hand, so tight it shattered into pieces.

When he dropped the pieces of the strange device to the ground, a seemingly old two story house had appeared in front of him. He stared at the house in amazement while he placed the energy tracker in the inside of his coat pocket. "…Jackpot."

With caution, he made his way up the porch. He reached out and placed his hand on the doorknob. When he turned it, the door had surprisingly opened. At that moment, he had figured that maybe something was wrong. He thought maybe he was walking right into a trap. When he slowly stepped inside, he looked around the dark hallways. There was dust and cobwebs all around the halls. As he continued to slowly walk around the quiet hall, he had suddenly fell through the weak wooden floorboard.

He fell into the lower part of the house. It had to have been the basement. He coughed from all of the dust that floated in the air after when he had fell through the floor.

He slowly got up from the floor and took a look around the fairly big basement. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw computers, monitors, and diagrams of strange weapons and devices. The room had appeared to be empty. He didn't see anyone in sight. He continued to look around the basement. "The jig is up, you nerdy fucks!" He shouted, "Either you show yourselves or I drag your asses out!"

He spotted papers being scattered all over the desk and floor. It had seemed that they knew he and the rest of the Chaotix team would find them in only a matter of time. They had already left and in a hurry it appeared. He began to look through the papers that were scattered on the desk that maybe would give him a clue to where they had went next. He looked until he came across a strange old looking book. The book had seemed important so he picked it up. His eyes then caught sight of a white board that had set beside him. It appeared to have something written on it in black marker. He looked closely to read what the board had said. His eyes widened as he read it, "…You're too late…" He was startled when multiple power saws sawed their way into the room.

There was one coming at him in every direction. When one of them came at him from the front. He dodged it by jumping onto the wooden support beam that held the ceiling up. He jumped back down and quickly ran upstairs. When he made it back into the hallway, more power saws had appeared from the walls. One of the saws had cut into the upper part of his coat. The cut wasn't deep enough to pierce into his arm.

He spotted the broken window that he threw the rock into and quickly jumped out of it.

Once he got outside, he rolled onto the grass and sat there panting in exhaustion with the book setting in his lap. He glanced over at the tear that one of the power saws had made in his coat. "Bastards…this is my favorite coat."

Later on that same morning, Tikal had came into Nails' bedroom while eating an apple. She walked in wearing nothing but an extra large gray t shirt and her underwear underneath it. The shirt was so big on her, it covered most of her body anyway. She glanced around the room and didn't see any sign of Nails. She saw that the bathroom door was shut so she figured that she was in the bathroom. Before she could do anything else, she suddenly saw the bathroom door swing open. She dropped her apple to the floor as her eyes fell upon a soaked and wet naked black bat woman. Her face turned red as the apple she was eating. She felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from her gorgeous wet body. She saw some water drip from her pink nipples on her big and perky breasts. When she thought she had the courage to, she turned away from her in embarrassment. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry, Nails!"

The bat looked over to the orange echidna in confusion.

"I…I didn't know you were in the shower! Please forgive me!"

Nails couldn't help but to slip a giggle as she saw how Tikal had reacted towards her. "It's okay, sweetie. You can look."

Tikal slowly peeked her head over in her direction again with a slight blush on her face.

Nails thought it was absolutely adorable that Tikal was acting like such a shy child. She walked over to her with her bare body still soaked. "It's all right. You unlike anyone else are more than welcome to see me naked."

She felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from her breasts. "…I just didn't want to disrespect you or anything."

She placed both of her hands on the cheeks of her face, "Don't be ridiculous. You're my girlfriend now remember?"

Her heart raced when she suddenly felt her hands travel down her body and to her hand.

"Don't be so shy, honey."

Her eyes widened as Nails made her hand caress her wet breast.

A seductive smile formed on her lips. "How does it feel?"

She swallowed hard before she could answer her, "Um, wet…and…squishy."

She took her other hand and made both of her hands travel down her wet body. "Do you like touching my body?"

She made a small nod, "Y-Yes." She could feel Nails gently pushing her body until her back had touched the wall. Her heart raced when Nails made her take her fingers and stroke them against her bare opening. The blush on her face had gotten redder and redder as Nails made her stroke her. "Um, Nails?" She spoke in a low voice, "I-I never done this before."

"I know, baby. We're just taking it one step at a time." She took her hand away from Tikal's. She whispered seductively to her, "Now stroke me."

She hesitated at first until she finally had the courage to gently stroke her fingers against Nails' wet entrance. She heard small moans coming from her.

"You're doing good, sweetie". She stroked her fingers through her dreadlocks. "Now put your fingers inside of me."

She did as she wanted and slowly placed a finger into her moist opening. When she heard her gasp from it, she took her finger out of her. "I'm hurting you. I'm sorry."

"You're not hurting me, baby. I like it." She lightly kissed her forehead to calm her down.

"…You do?"

She made a nod and placed her hands on Tikal's hips. "Let me do what you did to me then you'll know why I liked it." She noticed how uncomfortable Tikal had looked and thought that maybe she wasn't ready for them to get intimate yet. "If you want me to stop, then I will. I'm not going to force this on you."

She was shocked that Nails had stopped her actions and asked to see if she was really uncomfortable about what they were doing. "…You won't?"

She shook her head, "Of course not." She cupped her face and looked into her eyes, "I love you, Tikal. I would never do anything to hurt you."

Tikal's heart raced. She couldn't believe it, but Nails actually told her that she loved her. She had no idea words could make her feel so cared about and so safe. She gave her an affectionate look. "I love you too, Nails. I trust you." She leaned in close to her and was locked in a passionate kiss with her.

While they kissed, Nails stroked her fingers through Tikal's underwear until she felt her becoming wet.

Tikal winced and grabbed onto Nails' arm tightly as she felt her fingers being slowly inserted into her opening.

Nails had noticed Tikal's reaction. "Do you like that, baby?"

There was a slight discomfort for her at first but she began to like it as she started to slowly shove her fingers in and out of her. She slightly groaned, "Y-yes. This feels good."

Nails took her fingers out of her and playfully pushed Tikal's body onto her bed. She set her body on top of hers. "I know other things you may perhaps like."

A warm smile formed on the echidna's lips. "Will you share what you know with me?"

"I'd be more than glad to, sweetie." She leaned over and kissed the echidna woman once more.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: They made their move before we could…**

**Espio: Damn! I can't believe those bastards got away! We were so close!**

**Tikal: Good morning!**

**Tonya: Tikal?**

**Rouge: …What's up with her?**

**Espio: She had sex with Nails!?**


	34. Chapter 34

**CHAPTER 34**

Later on that evening at the Chaotix headquarters, the detectives were gathered around a strange and old thick book that was laying on the front desk in the main lobby.

Appex arched an eyebrow as he studied the book. "What the fuck is it?"

Ker picked the book up and sat down in the chair behind the desk. "It's a book…duh." He opened the book and began to flip through the pages.

The porcupine gave Ker an irritated expression while he looked through the book. "I know it's a damn book! What's in it?"

Shadow shrugged his shoulders as he leaned his back against the wall while he was drinking coffee. "I have no idea. It was the easiest to grab before I almost got hacked to death from a booby trap they set."

Rouge rested her head on his shoulder while she stood next to him. "Thank God you got out there in one piece."

"Tell me about it. I practically risked my left arm for that ancient book."

Espio slammed his fist down on the surface of the desk Ker was sitting at. "Damn! I still can't believe those bastards got away! Not after when we were so close!"

"They probably saw us snooping around yesterday", Shadow spoke.

"But how?"

Shadow figured that they saw them on one of the many cameras they had hidden around the house. "They had a shit ton of cameras everywhere. I'm pretty sure they saw us before we could even make our move."

Espio shook his head in disbelief, "God damn it…"

"Hey we were lucky enough to get this book. Without Charmy's invention, Shadow may had never found their base of operations", Midnight spoke.

Shadow glanced over to Charmy and saw him giving him a cold glare. He could still remember all the sudden and hurtful things he had shouted at him yesterday. He couldn't even bring himself to look at him.

Ker set the book down onto the surface of the desk and glanced through it. "This book is quite amazing. It tells of ancient relics, powerful spells, charms. Myths about powerful jewels too." His eyes had suddenly widened in shock. "Um, Shadow? Come look at this."

Shadow walked over to Ker and looked at a page of the book that had a picture of a familiar diamond.

Ker turned to the surprised hedgehog. "Does that diamond look familiar to you?"

He made a nod, "Yeah that's the same one The Raiders stole from the museum that night. What does it say about it?"

Ker began to read some of the description, "It says whoever posses the diamond will gain unthinkable God like powers."

"Sounds like one hell of a diamond", Tonya spoke.

"But that's only a myth right?" Midnight asked.

Ker shook his head and remembered back when he and Shadow had fought that strange demon together. "No way. When that abnormal demon absorbed that diamond in its body, he got bigger and stronger."

Shadow made a nod, "He's right. When he got a hold of that diamond, Ker and I could barely touch him."

Espio had thought that Nack had probably had other plans for the diamond. "And with Nack still having that diamond on him, this could be more bad news for us."

"But Nack packed up his shit and left town for all we know. We have no clue where he and the rest of The Raiders ran off to", Appex spoke.

While everyone tried to think where The Raiders would be, an orange echidna woman swung the door open and skipped into the lobby in a cheerful mood.

"Good morning, everyone!"

Tonya arched an eyebrow towards the echidna, "Um, it's the middle of the afternoon."

The echidna turned to her with a wide smile, "I know! Isn't it a beautiful day!"

"It's cold as shit out there", Espio spoke in a bitter tone. His eyes widened as Tikal skipped in front of him.

"I know! I just love it! It makes me so happy!" She extended her arms and hugged Espio without any warning. "Hugs!"

Tonya practically fell over as Tikal hugged her as well.

"Hugs for everyone!"

Tonya giggled towards Tikal's sudden happy mood, "My, my someone's in a chipper mood."

"I know", Rouge added. "Look at her face. She's practically glowing."

Espio's eyes widened as he observed Tikal more closely. "Hold on…I know that look…"

Rouge's heart stopped as she realized what Espio had noticed. "…Oh…"

Shadow suddenly dropped his mug full of coffee to the floor when he had figured it out as well. "…Holy shit! Nails fucked her."

The room had awkwardly got silent as everyone's shocked faces stared at Tikal.

Tikal had noticed the room had gotten quiet and everyone giving her shocked expressions. "…What?"

In panic, Rouge ran up to her and grabbed her shoulders. "You let Nails take your sweet virgin essence?"

The echidna made a small nod, "Um, yeah?"

"Oh my God!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"You had sex with Nails!"

"Um yeah I know", she spoke with a light blush on her face.

Tonya nervously began to think all kinds of thoughts. "But I mean…were you willing to go through with it?"

"Yeah", Espio did want to think that Nails had changed, but he had hoped that she didn't use any type of magic to trick Tikal into having sex with her. "She didn't…force you did she?"

Tikal shook her head, "Not at all. She respected me and my body. She really loves me and…I love her." She turned to Rouge. "Oh Rouge, I never understood anything about love and psychical attractions. But now I know. I know how wonderful it is to be with someone you really care about. You care so much for someone, you would do anything for them." She glanced at Shadow and then back to her. "That's why you and Shadow married each other right? Because you love each other so much."

Rouge made a small nod and smiled at her. She was taken by surprise when Tikal hugged her.

"Love is such a wonderful feeling. I never want this feeling to stop…ever."

After Tikal had talked about how great it felt to love someone Tonya and Espio looked at each other. They looked at each other like they haven't seen each other in years.

Later on that evening, Shadow decided to go over to Margaret's house to talk with her about Charmy's behavior. He angrily knocked on the door a few times before the door had opened.

When the door opened, a light green female crocodile appeared at the doorway. Once she caught sight of the hedgehog, her eyes widened in anger. "You!"

Shadow stood there with an angry look on his face, "Got a minute? We need to talk."

"I don't think so." When she was about to slam the door in his face, Shadow had held the door open so she couldn't close the door. "Get off my property, you damn hedgehog!"

"Look, you old hag! I didn't come all this way for nothing!"

"Then why are you here? What do you want?"

"This is about Charmy!"

After when he had mentioned Charmy's name, she decided to allow Shadow to speak to her. "…What about him?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but he's been acting strange for awhile now."

Margaret made a nod, "Well yeah I noticed. This is all because he's still torn up over Vector."

Shadow crossed his arms, "Yeah and apparently he's pissed."

"Yeah I am too. He was my husband after all."

"…Apparently, Charmy thinks I'm the bad guy for some reason."

She now knew the real reason why Shadow had came to her house. Apparently, he had thought she was the cause of the problem. "Why are you looking at me for? That's not my problem!"

"Margaret, you've been talking shit about me this entire time in front of Charmy! You put all those thoughts in his head! Because of you, he fucking hates me!"

"Whoa, hold on, hedgehog! It's true I don't like you and yes back when everything first happened, I was pissed off and I had to blame someone."

Shadow continued to listen to her.

"But I know how much Charmy loves you and I wouldn't drive my personal hate for you inside his head. I never spoke ill of you in front of him after the funeral. I swear."

"Why am I having such a hard time believing you?"

"Trust me. If he truly hated you, do you think he would've went to your wedding? Or would he still be working alongside you at the Chaotix?"

Shadow had to admit that she was making sense. If Charmy did hate him then why was he still in the picture? There had to be more going on with him.

"I don't know what's going on with Charmy, but I do know that whatever he's going through, it's got nothing to do with how I feel about you."

Shadow stood there deep in thought until he heard Margaret speak out again.

"Just save yourself the trouble and just let it be. He'll get better eventually…"

Before he could say anything else to her, she had walked back inside and shut the door.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Espio: Why would Charmy hate you?**

**Shadow: I just don't understand…**

**Nack: This the perfect opportunity to take this diamond out for a test drive!**

**Maxcell: This is unbelievable!**

**Nack: No one can touch me!**

**Espio: Shad, is that…**

**Shadow: Nack!**


	35. Chapter 35

**CHAPTER 35**

Later on that night at a bar, Shadow was sitting beside Espio at the bar counter. They both had shot glasses that were full of alcohol setting in front of them.

Shadow turned to the purple chameleon who sat beside him. "Thanks for chilling with me tonight, Es. I really needed someone to talk to and a drink."

Espio held the shot glass in his hand and drunk it all in one chug. "It's no prob, Shad. It's been awhile since we had a guy's night out."

"Yeah", he spoke dully.

Espio noticed how he had a lot on his mind it seemed. "So what's going on anyway?"

His eyes wandered away from him as he looked down at the counter. "Nothing it's just…Charmy."

Espio arched an eyebrow when he had suddenly mentioned his name. "What about him?"

He sighed heavily before he began to explain to him. "You wanna know the reason why he's been acting so weird?"

He made a slow nod.

"…He hates me."

Espio had then made a sarcastic laugh. "What? Charmy? Hates you? Good one!" His smile faded when he saw Shadow giving him a serious look. "Oh, you're serious?" He couldn't figure out why Charmy had any reason to be upset with him He had always known him for completely adoring Shadow. "Why do you think he hates you?"

"Yesterday he told me he wanted me out of his life."

Espio gave him a look full of disbelief. "What?"

"…He's blaming me for what happened to Vector."

"Oh my God…" He was shocked to know that Charmy was acting so strange because he had thought Vector's death was all Shadow's fault.

"I didn't tell Rouge what had happened between us. Nobody knows except for you."

"This is horrible. How could Charmy think everything was your fault?" He was then hit with a thought. "Margaret! She's turned Charmy against you!"

He slowly shook his head, "No, Margaret's not responsible."

Margaret had hated absolutely hated Shadow and since Charmy was living with her, he had figured that she was putting all kinds of horrible thoughts in his head. "What makes you think that?"

"Think about it. Margaret has hated me since the moment she met me. Why would Charmy suddenly hate me after all this time?"

Espio placed a finger to his chin as he thought about it. He had made a point. Charmy was more than used to the fact that Margaret hated Shadow and he had been hearing her insults about him for years. So why would this make him suddenly turn against Shadow? "You're right. There has to be something more…"

Meanwhile in another part of the bar, Nack and the rest off the Raiders stood at the doorway of the bar.

Nack scanned around the bar with a smirk on his face. "Yeah", he spoke. "This place is perfect."

"Are you seriously gonna try it here?" Damon asked.

"Yeah", Razi added. "There's a lot of big guys in here."

Nack had pulled out the diamond and placed it in the inside of his jacket. "And that's what's gonna make things interesting."

Zena had feared that Nack was going to test out the diamond on any random person he could lay his eyes on. What if the diamond didn't make him stronger? He would be in serious trouble if he picked a fight with the wrong person. "I don't know, Nack. What if it doesn't work?"

"You'll get beaten to a pulp", Maxcell nervously glanced around at the tough looking men who was walking around the bar.

"Then I'll just take that chance", Nack spoke in a confident tone.

The group watched as Nack walked over to a pool table that was surrounded by big and muscular looking men.

Nack stood beside a fairly muscular male brown ox biker. He watched as he failed to make a shot. He chuckled obnoxiously. "You call that a shot? I bet my grandmother could play this game better than you can and she's freakin' dead!"

The brown ox slammed the pool stick down onto the table and spun around to the weasel in anger. "What did you just say?"

Zena placed her hands over her mouth in horror as she watched the biker turn to him. "He's so dead."

Nack put on an act and pretended that he wasn't intimidated by him. He continued to insult the ox. "You heard me, you ugly fuck."

The ox grabbed him by his jacket and gave him an enraged look. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Nack still kept a smirk on his face. "I'm the guy who's gonna beat your ass."

"Well aren't you a cocky son of a bitch?" He clenched his fist and had began to swing at him until Nack had suddenly caught and grabbed his fist. His eyes widened in surprise by his actions.

"I am quite cocky but you my friend are the bitch." He then flung the ox back while using only one hand.

The ox had fell onto another pool table causing him to break it into pieces.

With their mouths hung open, the group of bikers looked down at the unconscious ox in disbelief. They had then focused their attention to Nack who stood there cracking his knuckles.

"So, who's next?"

Maxcell's jaw dropped as he witnessed Nack's incredible power. "Holy crap! It works! The diamond actually works!"

"He's totally unstoppable", Zena was quite surprised that the diamond had worked as well.

The rest of the bikers had began to charge towards Nack.

Before Shadow could take another sip from his shot glass, he and Espio were startled when they heard multiple voices shouting on the other side of the bar. He turned to Espio. "What was that?"

"I don't know but I'm going to find out." He stood from the stool he was sitting on and began to walk towards the other side of the bar. When he had walked over, he saw a male purple weasel picking up one of the biker's body and slamming his body onto a pool table. His eyes widened as he looked around and saw at least five other bikers laying on the floor in pain. He focused his attention back to the weasel. "Nack", he growled. He then saw Shadow standing next to him.

"What's going on?"

Espio looked towards Nack and pointed in his direction, "Look for yourself."

Shadow turned and his sights fell upon the weasel. "It's Nack."

"Yeah", Espio spoke as he looked back to him. "How lucky are we huh?" When he saw Shadow beginning to confront Nack, he decided to stand next to him.

"Nack!" Shadow shouted as he confronted the weasel.

Nack spun around and turned to a purple chameleon standing beside a black and red hedgehog. "Well, well what a surprise! Didn't expect to run into you fools here."

"It's over, Nack! You're coming with us!" Espio shouted.

The weasel crossed his arms. "Oh am I? You and what army?"

Shadow cracked his knuckles and began to walk over to Nack. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way…"

Nack made an evil chuckle when he saw Shadow approaching him. "What are you gonna do? Beat me up? I'd like to see you try!"

"You're sounding mighty confident tonight. I'll put a stop to that." He then saw Nack picking up a pool table with only one hand and throwing it at him and Espio.

They were both knocked to the floor by the impact of the table.

Nack laughed evilly when he saw the two hit the floor. "Eat that, detectives!"

While Espio was trying to recover from the hard hit, Shadow got up from the floor and came at Nack with his fists clenched. When he had tried to punch him, Nack had caught both his fists.

While he held his fists, he made an evil smile. "Looks like you're not the only tough one anymore huh, hedgehog?"

When Shadow finally broke out of his grip, he attempted to send another punch towards him.

Before Shadow could hit him, Nack dodged his attack and sent a forceful punch into his arm. He had then grabbed him by his weak arm tightly and sent a powerful kick from behind, sending Shadow flying into Espio.

Shadow and Espio both hit the floor once again.

Nack looked down at the two who weakly looked up at him. "How does it feel to be the weak ones now, detectives?"

Shadow and Espio glared at the weasel and had wondered how he had suddenly gotten so strong.

"You can't win this time! I'm now unstoppable!" He turned his back away from them and walked out of the bar with the rest of the Raiders following behind him.

Espio weakly stood from the floor with Shadow standing beside him. "What just happened?"

Shadow panted heavily in exhaustion, "I think…Nack just kicked our asses…"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Tonya: I can't deny it anymore. I still have feelings for him…**

**Tikal: Shadow? Espio?**

**Espio: We have a problem…**

**Shadow: It's Nack…he's gotten stronger somehow.**

**Nack: You can't win! I am unstoppable!**


	36. Chapter 36

**CHAPTER 36**

Meanwhile, Tonya was walking alongside Tikal down the seemingly deserted sidewalk. She turned to the echidna, "Thanks for walking with me, Tikal. I had way too much on my mind tonight."

Tikal turned to the cat woman with a friendly smile, "It's no problem, Tonya. I always have time for you. What's on your mind anyway?"

Tonya took a deep breath before she started to tell Tikal what was really on her mind. "It's just…Espio…"

"Espio?"

She made a small nod, "I know that I was the one who broke everything off but…is it weird that I miss him like crazy?"

She slowly shook her head, "No, not at all. Why don't you just tell him that you miss and still love him?"

She sighed heavily as he eyes wandered away from hers. She figured Espio wouldn't even feel the same way she felt because of how she had hurt him when she had broken up with him. "Because I don't know if he feels the same way…"

Before Tikal could say anything else to her, she stopped in her tracks when she spotted Nack and the Raiders across the street from them running in another direction. Her mouth hung open when she had saw them. "Tonya, is that…"

Tonya had also caught sight of them running. "The Raiders…"

Before they could go after them, they spotted Shadow and Espio running across from them.

Tonya's eyes widened as she caught sight of the two. "Shadow! Espio!"

They both stopped in their tracks and turned to Tonya and Tikal.

Espio was relieved to see the two. "Tonya? Tikal? Man are we glad to see you guys!"

Judging by Shadow and Espio's worried looks, Tikal thought something was wrong. She figured that they had saw the Raiders as well. "We have a problem."

"The Raiders…" Tonya began.

Shadow was surprised to know that Tonya had already knew about the situation. "You saw them?"

Tonya made a nod, "They were headed towards the amusement park. Come on! Let's follow them!"

They all began to run in the direction where the Raiders had gone..

While they ran, Tikal turned to Shadow. "What's going on anyway?"

Shadow shook his head, "I don't know. Nack…he's gotten stronger somehow."

"Stronger?" Tonya repeated blankly.

"Yeah", Shadow spoke. "Like super strength strong."

Tikal gasped in disbelief, "What?"

"We tried to stop him, but we could barely touch him", Espio explained. "We don't know how he got so tough."

"It doesn't matter", Shadow spoke. "We have to find a way to stop him."

Meanwhile, the Raiders were walking around the dark amusement park, until Nack had spotted a parked black armored car. He made a smirk as he laid his eyes on the vehicle. "Oh yeah!"

Maxcell saw Nack approaching the vehicle. "Um, Nack? What are you…" His words trailed off when he saw Nack suddenly pick the vehicle off of the ground and flip it over to its side.

Zena thought she would never get over watching Nack do so many incredible things while he had the diamond in his possession. "So cool!"

Damon crossed his arms and thought that Nack was beginning to get selfish with the diamond. He glared at the weasel. "Hey, Nack? When are we gonna get a turn with that diamond?"

Nack began to take the back doors off of the vehicle by tearing it off the hinges with his bare hands. "How about never?"

Razi's mouth hung open after when he learned that Nack wasn't going to allow any of them to use the diamond. "You're not gonna share? That's totally unfair! We helped each other to get that diamond!"

Nack turned to the group in annoyance. "Not fair huh?" He took one of the heavy metal doors and slammed it on the ground in front of the group.

They were all startled when Nack had threw the door onto the pavement.

Nack took a step forward at the uneasy group, "Listen to me", he demanded. "I'm the leader and I have power over you so everything I say goes!"

Razi and Damon gave each other nervous looks after witnessing Nack's new controlling attitude. They both figured Nack could kill them all if he wanted to and with his bare hands.

They were all once again startled when they had suddenly heard a familiar male voice.

"I don't know what's going on…"

Nack and the rest of the group turned to a black and red hedgehog who was standing on the armored car that was turned to its side.

With his arms crossed, the hedgehog glared at the purple weasel. "…But I'm going to put a stop to this."

The Raiders turned to Espio, Tonya, and Tikal who had approached behind them.

Nack formed an evil smirk towards the hedgehog, "You can't stop me, Shadow. No one can!"

"We'll see about that."

Before he could react, he saw Shadow jump from the vehicle and send a powerful kick to the head which was enough to knock him back.

Before Shadow could attack him again, he picked up one of the metal doors he tore off of the armored car and threw it at him.

Shadow had easily dodged the flying metal door and came at him with a punch.

Nack had caught his fist with his hand and used his elbow to strike him in the stomach. He then sent a powerful kick to him that was enough to send him flying into the metal armored car. Before he could give him the chance to get to his feet, he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. He began to punch him repeatedly in the face. "Who's the weak one now, hedgehog?"

While Shadow and Nack were fighting, the rest of the group had confronted the Raiders.

Zena glared at the group. "You'll never be able to stop us!"

"That's what you think!" Tikal shouted.

Maxcell formed a smirk. "Nack is going to kick that no good hedgehog's ass!"

Espio glanced over to Shadow and Nack fighting. He noticed that Shadow was actually struggling to defeat Nack. He figured he needed his help to take him down but before he could, he saw Zena pointing a shotgun at Tonya.

The green squirrel turned to him, "Don't even think about it! You even try to interfere, I blow her head off her body!"

In worry, Tikal looked over to Tonya, "No!"

"It's okay, Tikal", Tonya spoke while she gave Zena a hateful glare.

Espio clenched his fists in frustration, he now knew he definitely couldn't do anything to aid Shadow. If he tried to act, he knew Zena wouldn't hesitate to carry out her threat.

Without anyone looking, Razi slowly stepped away from the group.

Shadow punched Nack away from him and had made him fall to the pavement. Before Shadow could attack him again, Razi had tried to tackle him from behind.

Before he gave Shadow the opportunity to throw him off his body, he spoke to him in a low voice enough for Shadow to hear him. "The diamond…inside of his coat…destroy it."

He was taken by surprise when he had found out that Razi had tried to help him to defeat Nack. He had wondered what had suddenly made him want to help him. He didn't have the time to put the pieces together. All he knew was that Nack had to be stopped. He then threw Razi off of his body and focused on the weasel who was coming at him once again.

When Razi fell to the pavement, it distracted Zena making her turn away from Tonya.

Espio thought it was the perfect opportunity to get Zena away from Tonya. He took a shuriken and threw it at Zena's hand making her drop her gun to the ground.

Zena held her hand in pain from where the shuriken had hit her.

Tonya picked up the shotgun from the ground before anyone else could and used the end of it to knock Zena onto the ground unconscious.

When Tonya, Tikal, and Espio turned to Maxcell and Damon, the two just stood there not knowing what to do since they both had been caught by them.

Shadow studied the brown jacket Nack wore. He had tried to figure out where Nack had kept the diamond. When he saw him running towards him, he grabbed his body and threw him onto the pavement.

Nack fell to the black pavement hard. Once he had gotten to his feet, he turned to the hedgehog who was giving him a hateful look. He approached him once again and sent multiple punches to his body. His heart raced when he noticed that none of his hits seemed to have severely hurt him. He had stopped punching him and slowly looked up at the hedgehog who had held a crystal clear diamond in his hand.

"You lose something, Nack?" He asked before he crushed the diamond he had held into pieces.

In shock that Shadow had found the diamond and destroyed it, Nack watched the pieces of the diamond fall onto the pavement. He took a step away from him and made an uneasy look, "Come on, Shad. Don't be like that." He continued to step away from him while Shadow had began to walk up to him. "You're a detective. A good guy remember? You can't kill me. It's against everything you stand for."

Shadow grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "Don't worry, Nack. I won't kill you."

Nack's heart raced when Shadow surprisingly let go of him.

"…But it doesn't mean I won't beat the living shit out of you." He clenched his fist and punched him hard enough to send him flying onto the window of a parked car.

When Nack had fell onto the car, he fell unconscious on the shattered windshield of the car.

Tikal saw what had just happened between the two and had gotten Shadow's attention by calling out to him. "Hey, Shadow!"

The hedgehog turned to the group and began to approach them.

Maxcell began to panic as he saw Shadow walking over to them. "Crap! This is it! We're done for! Tech City Prison here we come!"

Damon stepped away from the group alongside Razi, "Actually, it's just you."

Maxcell turned to Damon and Razi in confusion when he saw them take off their jackets and reveal that they were wearing jetpacks He had wondered were they actually going to abandon them all along if something were to happen? "What the?"

"Fools!" Razi exclaimed. "You thought we would actually trust you filthy street people?"

Everyone stared at Damon and Razi in shock from the fact that they had jetpacks.

"Have fun in the slammer!" Damon exclaimed while he cackled. He and Razi both used their jetpacks to start levitating from the ground. Before they could actually get away, they both suddenly hit their heads onto a cement ceiling that was above them. The impact was enough to knock them both unconscious to the ground.

While Tikal had her mouth open from their attempt to escape, Shadow had hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Fucking jackasses…"

Tikal had suddenly heard distant police sirens. She made a small smile in relief that the Raiders were finally caught. "It's finally over."

Shadow turned and saw Espio talking with Tonya privately and away from them.

Espio gave the cat woman a concerned look. "Tonya", he began. "When I saw Zena point that gun at you, I…" His words trailed off as he tried to convince himself this was the right moment to confess to Tonya that he had still loved her. Before he could start again, Tonya had pressed her fingers to his lips.

"Espio", she spoke in a soft voice. "I thought about us a lot…"

He took her hand away from him and held it lovingly in his hand. "You have?"

She made a slow nod, "I don't care what kind of relationship we have. I just want you back in my life. I'm going insane without you ."

"Tonya, I don't know what kind of future we'll have together but I do know that I love you so fucking much and I'd do anything to keep you by my side."

Tears started to swell in her eyes. She was relieved that Espio had indeed still loved her. She wanted to look away from him so he wouldn't see her practically crying. She then felt Espio's hands cupping her face and making her look back at him. "I'm so sorry. I put us through so much."

He wiped a tear from her face, "It's okay. No matter what we're going though, I will never stop loving you."

With a warm smile on her face, she leaned closer to him until the two were locked into a passionate kiss.

They both paused when they heard Shadow's voice.

"Aww…"

They turned to the hedgehog with both of their faces red.

"You guys are back together?" He asked with a teasing look on his face.

Tikal looked at the two with a relieved expression on her face. She was so happy that Espio and Tonya had finally made up with each other and were officially back together.

With a small blush still on his face, Espio's eyes shifted away from Shadow's. "…Shut up."

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Shadow: Quit sex?**

**Rouge: Two weeks?**

**Shadow: Ugh! Making a baby is so hard!**

**Margaret: Charmy, why are you acting so strange?**

**Charmy: I don't have to tell you anything…**


	37. Chapter 37

**CHAPTER 37**

One week later, Shadow and Rouge had decided to visit the hospital to find out what they could do to increase their chances of having a baby together. The two of them were sitting together in a small room. They were both sitting across from a purple middle aged walrus that was sitting on a stool.

The walrus had on a white doctor's coat, a black collared shirt, khakis and black dress shoes. He was writing onto a clipboard that he had held in his hands. He looked away from the clipboard and focused on the couple sitting in front of him. "Good morning. My name is Dr. Maxwell Waters."

Rouge glanced over to Shadow and it had appeared that he didn't even want to be there. She knew that he wasn't very fond of ever going to doctors. It annoyed her that he wasn't acting very friendly at the start of their visit. She focused her attention back to the walrus with a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Waters. I'm Rouge and this is my husband, Shadow."

All Shadow did was make a slight nod as any kind of response.

Even Maxwell had the assumption that Shadow was not thrilled to be there. "Nice to meet you. How long have you two been married?"

"It's been more than a few weeks now", Rouge still couldn't even get over that the two were now married. Just knowing that the two were now officially spending the rest of their lives together had excited her.

"Oh I see. You two are still newlyweds."

Rouge nodded happily.

"So", he had began. "What can I do for you both today?"

"We need some help actually."

"Yes?"

She started to explain the reason why the two had came to him. "Well you see…" Before she could continue, Shadow had spoken.

"We want a baby and we need some advice to increase our chances of having one."

"Oh I see. You're having problems getting pregnant?"

Rouge made a small and slow nod. "Yes can you help us?"

He made a slow nod, "Perhaps I can be of some help. However depending on your spouse, the chances of reproducing is never a hundred percent guaranteed."

"Just tell us what we can do to try to make this happen", Shadow had spoken in a bitter voice.

"Okay very well", he looked back at the clipboard he was holding. "Things that can decrease your chances of reproduction…too much stress perhaps?"

Rouge turned to Shadow who had a guilty look on his face.

Shadow did have to admit that he wasn't exactly light on stress. He knew he had many emotional problems and it seemed that every little thing would set him off. He directed his attention towards the walrus and slightly shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I am kind of heavy on the stress thing…"

Maxwell had continued to read off the list. "Too much alcohol intake?"

These suggestions were getting worse and worse on his end it seemed. Not only were his demon genes messing his chances up but even the habits he had were setting him back. "…I did used to be an alcoholic."

"Too much smoking?"

The hedgehog arched an eyebrow. "Smoking what?"

Rouge wanted to face palm herself. She knew that Shadow did heavily smoke cigarettes and he was also a huge pothead in the past. She knew one of the many old habits he kept falling back on was smoking weed. He only did it on rare occasions, but he never fully quit smoking.

Maxwell tried to ignore the fact that Shadow had mentioned smoking things that were other than cigarettes. He moved on to another method they could both try. "Too much sex?"

With silent and awkward looks, Shadow and Rouge turned to each other with nervous looks.

Judging by their nervous expressions he had figured the two were indeed having sex way too often. "…I take it you have intercourse frequently?"

Rouge slightly shrugged her shoulders. "Um, maybe?"

"…When was the last time you had sex?"

Shadow bit his lip before he actually answered. "Uh, last night? And into this morning?"

"…I see. Well strange as it may sound but sometimes having sex too often can decrease your chances of getting pregnant."

Shadow slowly turned to Rouge. "We don't do it that often…do we?"

She paused and nervously turned to him, "Shadow, last night…I lost count after the sixth time."

He arched an eyebrow. "That was last night? I thought that was this morning?"

"Well", Maxwell spoke. "I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you two are very sexually active people. So in order to increase your chances of pregnancy…" He pointed his finger at Shadow. "You." He then pointed towards Rouge, "And you. No sex. Two weeks."

Shadow stood from his chair in shock. "What?"

Rouge was also stunned from his request. "No sex?"

"Two weeks!" Shadow exclaimed.

Maxwell made a small nod, "That's right. It's worth a shot. What do you have to lose?"

Rouge stood from her chair and held Shadow's hand. "Oh come on, Shad. It's only two weeks. We can do this."

The two nervously looked away from each other and both thought that trying to make a baby would be harder than they thought.

Later on late that evening, Charmy walked through the door when he had made it back home.

When Margaret saw the bee walk into the kitchen, she turned to him in excitement. "Oh, Charmy! You're back!"

He turned to her with an uncaring expression. Judging by her expression, it looked like she had some exciting news to tell him. "Um, yeah. What's up?"

"I have something to show you!"

Charmy saw her take out a white envelope. "What is it?" He then saw her hand the envelope to him.

"Open it!"

He took the envelope from her and began to open it. When he did, he took out a white piece of paper from it. He began to glance at what the paper had said "…The school…I got accepted into that school in Industrial City."

Margaret's smile widened. "Oh my God! Charmy this is great! You did it! You got into your dream school!"

The bee paused and bit his lip. He suddenly crumpled the paper in the palm of his hand.

Margaret watched in shock as he set the crumpled paper down onto the kitchen table.

"…I'm not going."

She stood there with a blank look on her face, "…Wha? What?"

He turned to her with a cold look, "You heard me. I'm not going."

"But Charmy, I don't understand. You had your heart set on this school."

He turned his back to her. "What's the point? I have no reason to go."

Margaret couldn't believe it. He didn't want to go to the school anymore and she had wondered what had suddenly changed his mind. She had extended her hand out to him in concern. "Charmy…"

He began to walk out of the kitchen and headed towards the stairs. "I'm going to bed."

Margaret's eyes glanced out the small window and noticed that the sun hadn't even set yet. "But it's not even…dark yet." After when she saw Charmy walk upstairs and heard the door to his room slam, she couldn't help but to go into a state of worry. She wanted to go talk to him. When she took a step forward, her foot had kicked something that was on the floor.

When she looked down, she saw a small white bottle laying on the floor. It wasn't hers so she figured that Charmy may had dropped it when he had came inside. She picked the bottle off of the floor and studied it. It turned out that the bottle was a half empty pill bottle. She glanced through the writing on it to see what kind of pills they were. Her eyes widened when she caught the word 'oxycodone.' She looked away from the bottle in horror. "Oh my God…"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Espio: You? No Sex? What a riot!**

**Shadow: Shut up! It's not that funny!**

**Espio: This won't last for a week!**

**Nails: Is that a bet?**

**Espio: You know what? Hell yeah!**

**Tikal: You're not happy for me?**

**Tonya: Tikal, I…**

**Margaret: Charmy, what are you doing with these pills?**

**Charmy: I can't believe this is happening…**


	38. Chapter 38

**CHAPTER 38**

"You? No sex? Two weeks?" Espio obnoxiously laughed while he stood in front of the big desk Shadow was sitting at in the main lobby of the Chaotix.

Shadow had his arms crossed with an annoyed look on his face while he sat in the desk chair behind the desk he sat at.

The purple chameleon continued to laugh hysterically. "This is priceless!"

"…It's not that funny", he spoke in an annoyed tone.

"Yes it is!"

"Well I don't see what's so funny about it."

"Because you and Rouge are complete sex maniacs! You couldn't go a day without getting some!" He held the side of his stomach as he tried to stop laughing. "Oh God! This is killing me!"

Shadow shrugged his shoulders. "Well what else could we do? When we saw the doctor yesterday he advised that I gave up stress, drinking, smoking, and sex."

Espio had made a nod, "Well you sure as hell couldn't get pass the drinking and smoking. And let's not get started on your stress levels." A sly look appeared on his face, "I guess the no sex thing was the only option you really have a chance at."

Shadow couldn't believe Espio didn't think he could go through with it. "Screw you, dude! Sex is not the only thing keeping our marriage together!"

Espio shrugged his shoulders, "I totally do not think that. I just think you guys need to chill with it. Every time I turn around, I catch you guys fucking." He pointed at the desk Shadow had sat at, "You fucked her on this desk, outside behind the building, the weaponry room…" A disturbed look had formed on his face, "Your office…"

"Okay! Okay! I get it! So Rouge and I have sex more than a little often…big deal! But we're not obsessed with it. We can go through with this." He wanted to believe that he and Rouge could actually go the entire two weeks without having sex.

"Whatever you say, dude", he spoke with a smirk before walking away from him. He had then saw Nails standing in the far corner of the room. He walked over to her while she held a mug full of hot chocolate in her hands. "So I take it you heard what's going on with Shad and Rouge?"

After when she took a sip from her mug, she made a small nod. "Yup! Rouge told me yesterday." She turned to him with a sly smile. "Two weeks without getting any?"

A small laugh escaped him. "Yup! Rouge will totally fuck up first."

Nails arched an eyebrow towards him. "Rouge? I think you mean Shadow."

"What?"

"Oh come on! He's a guy after all. He'll want to stick his dick in her sooner or later."

He couldn't help but to feel slightly offended that Nails thought that guys were more sexually active than women were. He crossed his arms as he turned to her. "No way! This is all gonna fall on Rouge."

Nails placed a hand on her hip. "Espio The Chameleon, is that a bet?"

"You know what? Yeah it is!"

"Okay you're on! Fifty bucks on whoever caves first?" She extended her hand so he could shake it.

"It's a bet", he took her hand and shook it.

Later on at Tonya's house, Tonya had came downstairs and saw Tikal sitting on the sofa in the living room. "Hey, Tikal", when she walked into the room, she had saw quite a few backpacks and other bags on the floor near where she was sitting. "Um, what's going on? You going on a trip or something?"

Tikal looked up at the cat woman in excitement. "Oh hey, Ton!" She quickly stood up from the sofa and held her hands. "Guess what?"

She gave her the same excited look back. "What?"

"Nails wants me to move in with her!"

The excited look had suddenly faded from her face. She couldn't believe it. Tikal was going to move in with Nails? "Oh? So soon?"

She nodded happily. "Yes! We just love each other so much, I just really want to be closer to her."

She slowly took her hands from hers, "Yeah I'm happy for you both and all but do you think that you're maybe rushing into things a little…fast?"

The smile she had on her face had faded. "…Fast? I don't understand."

"You and Nails just started dating. How do you know that moving in with her is the right move? How are you so sure that this is even love?" She had began to think that Tikal was just confused. She thought that maybe she was overtaken with lust instead of it being an emotional kind of feeling.

In shock from her words, she slowly turned away from her. "I can't believe this…" She turned back to her with an angered look. "How dare you say that! You don't think what Nails and I have together is love?"

Her heart raced when she realized that she had upset her. "I didn't say that…"

"What is wrong with you, Tonya? First you throw Shadow and Rouge's relationship in the air and now you have doubts about me and Nails?"

"Tikal…"

"I thought you were happy for me?"

"I am happy for you!"

She slowly shook her head, "No you're not. If you were, you wouldn't shoot down the decisions I make with her. You're not being very supportive and it hurts that you feel this way…"

In regret that she spoke out her opinions to her, Tonya watched as Tikal stormed her way upstairs and slammed the door to her room.

Later on that evening at Margaret's house, Charmy slowly walked downstairs and had made his way into the kitchen where Margaret was.

Margaret turned to him and noticed that he was wearing a green jacket and had a blue backpack on his back. It had looked like he was ready to go out somewhere. "Charmy, you're finally awake?"

He turned to her with a confused expression at first. He shut his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead. He looked down and slowly shook his head like he had a terrible headache. When he thought he could respond to her, he slowly looked up at her with a dazed expression. "What? Oh! Uh yeah I just woke up."

She knew right then that something was off about him. He was lying to her. She didn't think that he was in his room all night last night. She focused her attention to him and studied how he was acting. He was acting dazed and confused for some reason. "…Are you all right, Charmy?"

He knew that she thought something was strange about how he was acting. He looked away from her and made a small chuckle, "Yeah I'm just peachy."

Her heart raced when she suddenly heard a small laugh escape him. What was so funny? She feared that he was high from something. Did he have more pills on him? Or was it something else? She tried to not overreact around him, "…Where are you going off to?"

The bee shrugged his shoulders and began to walk towards the door, "I'm just…going out…"

"Doing what?"

"Just hanging out with some friends and stuff…"

"…You've been going out a lot lately you know? I barely even see you anymore."

"I guess I've just been busy…" Another small laugh slipped from him as he reached out towards the doorknob. Before he attempted to leave, Margaret had spoke out to him.

"Busy doing what? Popping pills?"

His eyes shot open after when she had mentioned pills. Did she know what was really going on with him? If so then how did she find out? He slowly spun around to her. "…What?" His mouth hung open when he saw her taking out a white pill bottle and held it up so he could clearly see it.

"…Does this belong to you?" She asked in an angered tone.

"…Where'd you get that?" He tried to take the bottle away from her but she jerked her hand back before he could grab it.

"…You dropped this on the floor yesterday."

His eyes shifted away from hers. He murmured in a low tone, "So that's where it went…" He fixed his eyes back to her, "Give that back to me."

"…As I recall, you're not in any real intense pain. So what are you doing with these?"

He paused and hesitated before he could reply to her. "…I'm just holding it for a friend."

She didn't believe the answer he had gave her. Something else was going on and he wasn't telling her the entire story. "Don't lie to me, Charmy."

He still didn't completely have his attention on her. He stood there in silence.

"I want you to tell me the real reason why you have this."

"…I…I have to go." He quickly spun around and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"Charmy, don't you walk away from me! Charmy!" She begged for him to not leave but he had ignored her pleas and left the house in a hurry. She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms while she was deep in thought. She thought what could she do? Charmy obviously wouldn't listen to her and if he didn't listen to her, who would he listen to?

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Charmy: No one gets it. No one seems to understand. How could they possibly feel the pain I'm feeling? I'll get rid of the pain. My own way…**


	39. Chapter 39

**CHAPTER 39**

Later on that night in a dark and seemingly dangerous alley, three figures stood around a rusty barrel with a fire extinguishing from it.

They all appeared to be teenagers and judging by their attire, they had looked homeless.

One of them was a white male bird. He was a parrot. He looked young but not over the age of twenty. He wore a brown leather jacket, blue denim jeans, a black t shirt, black boots, and black fingerless gloves. He appeared to be the oldest out of the two teens he stood next to.

Another was an orange dingo with red spiked hair. Her appeared to be around the age of eighteen. He wore a black leather jacket, a white t shirt, black leather gloves, fitted black jeans, and brown boots.

The last was a male red cheetah with black spots. His hair was black. He looked like the same age as the dingo. He wore a white leather jacket with a blue hoodie underneath it. He also wore blue jeans, and blue and white sneakers. He raised his hands up to the burning hot fire to warm them. "Another fucking freezing night", he murmured bitterly.

The dingo's eyes flashed over to the cheetah's. "I'm surprised you're not used to this beautiful weather."

The cheetah glared over to him. "Shut the fuck, Spitfire."

Before he could reply to him, the parrot had spoken up.

"Hey, guys", the parrot spoke. "He's late…"

Spitfire shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah? So?"

"…He's never been late."

The cheetah had chuckled a bit as he turned to him. "What's wrong, Ryder? You worried?"

Ryder made a small nod. "…What if something happened? What if he got caught?"

The cheetah shrugged his shoulders, "Wouldn't surprise me. He is some kind of cop isn't he?"

Spitfire had a worried look on his face, "Diego makes a point. What if he did get found out? What if he ratted us out? Aw man! I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"

"Calm down", Ryder spoke. "Stop freaking out. Let's give him a few more minutes."

With uneasy looks on their faces, Diego and Spitfire continued to stand around the fire alongside Ryder.

Diego's ears perked up when he heard footsteps approaching them from the far end of the dark alley.

The group turned to see who was approaching them until they saw a male yellow and black bee walking up to them.

A relieved look had formed on Ryder's face. "Charmy, you made it. We were starting to worry."

The bee confronted the group with a smirk on his face. "Please! You thought I'd actually bail on you guys?" He took off the backpack he was wearing and unzipped it.

Ryder watched as he began to search through his backpack. "So what took you so long anyway?" His eyes widened when he saw Charmy tossing something small towards him. When he caught it, he looked at it and saw that it was a pack of cigarettes. He saw him also tossing over other packs of cigarettes to Spitfire and Diego.

"I was just picking up a few things for you guys", Charmy spoke while he zipped his backpack back up and tossed it back over his shoulders.

Diego eagerly ripped open the pack of cigarettes . "Charmy, you rock!"

The bee watched as the group opened their packs of cigarettes and began to smoke one from their packs. He watched as Ryder approached him.

Ryder took a puff from his cigarette, "You didn't have to do this for us Charmy."

With a small smile, the bee carelessly shrugged. "Yeah but I wanted to. You guys are like family to me."

The group made a small but warm smile towards the bee.

Ryder placed his hand on Charmy's shoulder. "We're glad you feel that way, Charmy." He took the cigarette out of his mouth and held it up at him.

The bee gave him a hesitant look, "You know I don't smoke."

He let out a small chuckle, "One little puff won't kill you."

He slowly reached out and took the cigarette from him. He placed it in his mouth and inhaled from it slowly.

After when he watched him exhale the smoke from his mouth, he took the cigarette from him and continued to finish smoking from it. "So about the pills…"

His heart raced as Ryder began to bring up the oxycodone pills. He really didn't want to tell him that Margaret had taken a bottle from him. "Oh, um…I did as you asked. I sold both bottles." He searched inside of his jacket pocket and handed him a white envelope.

Spitfire and Diego stood beside Ryder as he opened the envelope. When he did, he took out a good amount of money from it. Their faces lit up in excitement.

"Fuck yeah!" Spitfire shouted excitedly.

"Way to go, Charmy!" Diego spoke.

Ryder turned to them and gave them including himself half of the money. Afterwards he turned back to Charmy, "Good job selling the pills, Charmy. Did you enjoy the freebe I gave you?"

Charmy gulped and hesitated for a moment before he had replied to him. "Um yeah…for the most part."

Ryder arched an eyebrow and thought that something had happened. "What do you mean for the most part?"

He once again hesitated before he started to explain what had happened to the third bottle of pills he had gave him. "Well…I kind of dropped them and…Margaret found them…"

Spitfire gave him a look of disbelief. "What! Your fucking mom caught you?"

Charmy rubbed his head with hand in aggravation. "She knows I'm taking pills but she doesn't know I'm dealing."

"Oh that makes it better", Diego spoke in a sarcastic voice.

Charmy's eyes wandered down to the ground. "I didn't mean to be so careless…"

"…Does she know about us?" Ryder asked.

He paused and bit his lip. He had remembered that he had mentioned them but it was briefly. She still didn't know their identities. He slowly shook his head, "No, no one knows about you guys."

Ryder sighed in relief, "Good. Listen to me, Charmy. You gotta be more careful."

He made a small nod as he agreed with him.

"Spitfire, Diego, and I are out on these streets for a reason. As you already know, we all have something in common…"

Charmy slowly looked up at him.

"We're all orphans. We've all lost people who we once known and loved. We have to look out for each other because no one else will. We've been abandoned…betrayed…"

Spitfire sadly looked over to Ryder as he talked to Charmy.

Ryder continued, "Or just unfortunate…"

Diego sadly looked down to the ground while he smoked his cigarette.

Chrarmy knew already the reason why they were all just living on the cruel streets of the city.

Ryder had been abandoned when he was just a newborn baby.

Spitfire had been abused as a child by his father.

Diego's parents had died from an accidental house fire.

Ryder continued to talk with Charmy, "You are no different than us. You didn't even know your real parents. They were killed a little after you were born. And you just recently lost the one guy who you always looked up to as father am I right?"

He looked down to the ground sadly and made a slow nod. Every time Vector's name was brought up, images of how he had gotten killed would repeat in his head over and over again. It both saddened and angered him.

"We all feel the same pain of losing people we once loved. It's a cruel world, Charmy and it's hard to find people you can trust."

Anger had fueled back up inside of him as he pictured Shadow's image inside of his head.

"We have to look out for each other because no one else will."

Charmy turned to the parrot and made a small nod.

Ryder had then thought it was best to drop the depressing subject. "I know what we can do to let a little aggravation out." He turned to Spitfire and Diego. "You guys up for a little stroll around the city?"

Spitfire picked up a few cans of spray paint from the ground and shook them. Afterwards, he threw them back down to the ground. "Aw man! We're low on spray paint!"

Diego turned to Ryder with a smirk when he had picked up a metal pipe off of the ground, "Looks like we gotta get some more."

"Looks like we're taking a trip to the auto shop." Ryder turned to Charmy with a devious look. "It's your favorite spot right, Mr. Mechanic? Ready to tear some shit up?"

Charmy knew that Ryder wanted them all to break into the auto store and steal some things from them. At that point, wrecking and stealing things seemed like a great way to take his mind off of his depressing thoughts. A smirk had formed on his face, "Yeah let's do it."

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Rouge: Just go be annoying somewhere else!**

**Nails: Hehe! Looks like someone's pissy cause she isn't getting any!**

**Rouge: Shut up!**

**Nails: Looks like I'm gonna have to make Shadow cave first…**

**Espio: What the hell did you do!?**

**Shadow: Espio, what the hell!?**


	40. Chapter 40

**CHAPTER 40**

A few days later, it was an early and sunny morning at the Chaotix.

Rouge was in the weaponry room sitting on a desk reading a handbook about different types of guns. She took her eyes away from her book when she saw Nails holding a strange crossbow while she observed it. It had seemed that she didn't know a thing about what she was doing with it. "Nails, be careful with that! I'm still trying to re modify that for Tikal."

Nails carelessly leaned the end of the crossbow on her shoulder. "Oh relax, Rouge! If Tikal can handle this thing then so can I." Her heart raced when her finger had slipped and activated the trigger to the crossbow.

Rouge's eyes widened as she saw an arrow being shot from the crossbow. She ducked when she saw the point of the arrow being aimed towards her.

The arrow had missed her and shot into the wall behind her.

Rouge slowly turned to the black bat woman in annoyance. "Are you sure you're not trying to kill me?"

Nails sighed heavily and placed the crossbow down onto another table. "I'm sorry! Geez!"

She gritted her teeth as she grew more and more annoyed with her. "God, Nails! Can you just go be annoying somewhere else!" She looked back down at the book and tried to continue reading.

A sly look appeared on Nails' face, "Oh ho! Looks like someone's a little pissy cause she isn't getting any!"

Rouge took her eyes away from the book and slammed it shut. She then turned to Nails in frustration. "Oh shut up! I am not!"

She walked over to her and leaned against the desk Rouge was sitting on. "Don't get all upset, sis. It's only been about a week. It'll only be a matter of time. Shad's gonna crack any moment!"

Rouge crossed her arms and gave Nails a doubtful look. "Yeah right! Shadow's taking it better than I thought he would."

Nails arched an eyebrow and paused in disbelief. "…Excuse me?"

She made a nod, "You heard me. He's actually taking this very well. He's even been sleeping on the sofa in case something happened when we slept together."

Nails' mouth dropped. She couldn't believe it. After what Rouge had told her, she figured that Rouge would cave before Shadow would. "I don't believe it…"

"Oh believe it. At least he can keep it together. I feel like I'm going to burst into flames if he doesn't fuck me soon." She bit her lip in frustration. "God! I miss him! I miss how he goes down on me! I miss how he strokes me with his tongue!" She took her finger and caressed her neck with it down to the collar of her shirt.

Nails had made an uneasy look as she witnessed how Rouge was reacting. She was actually getting aroused as she thought of her having sex with Shadow.

"And oh fuck! How I miss his big, long, hard…"

"Okay!" Nails shouted in a panicked tone. "I think we've had enough reminiscing about how he fucks you!"

She tried to drag her mind out of her thoughts and turned to Nails who's face was cherry red. "Oh, Nails! I can't help it! I…I don't think I can do this!" She jumped off of the desk, "I'm going crazy!"

Her eyes widened when she saw her getting off of the desk. She feared that she was about to rush into Shadow's office to have sex with him. She couldn't let that happen. She had placed a bet on her after all. She jumped in front of her before she could walk off, "Whoa! Hey now, Rouge! Let's not do anything drastic. Shad's a guy remember? He'll crack any moment. So if shit does fall to pieces, he couldn't blame you. It would be his fault."

She angrily huffed and crossed her arms. "Well he'd better crack soon. I don't know how much longer I can hold out!"

When Nails saw Rouge leave the room, she sighed heavily. 'This is horrible! Rouge is a complete wreck! At this rate, she'll tackle that hedgehog to the floor and ride him like a bull.' She placed a finger to her chin while she began to think of how to get Shadow to make the first move on Rouge. Her eyes lit up as she thought of an idea. "Heh, looks like I have no choice but to make him cave first…"

Later on, Espio had walked into the break room of the Chaotix. When he stepped in, he caught sight of Nails sitting at a white round table drinking from a white mug and eating a salad. He walked pass her and walked towards the counter to get a cup of water. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be fucking your girlfriend?"

She made a sly look towards him and arched her eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be fucking your girlfriend?"

He turned to her with the cup of water in his hand, "I did this morning actually." He took a sip from his cup.

"Oh really? Looks like everyone's getting some."

He let out a small chuckle, "Except Shad and Rouge of course."

She had then made a devious look, "Oh I wouldn't say that…"

His eyes widened in panic from her words. She knew something. Did Shadow and Rouge finally break down and have sex? "…What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing", she replied with an evil smile on her face.

Espio walked over to her in panic. "No! You know something! Did Rouge finally cave?"

"No, but Shad will."

He shook his head. "Shad? No way! He's definitely not gonna fuck this up." He had then heard Nails laughing. Right then he knew that Nails had done something to try to make Espio lose the bet. "Oh my God…"

Nails' eyes widened when she saw Espio confronting her with an angry look.

"You! What the hell did you do?"

She giggled softly, "Oh nothing really. I just gave Shadow a little…stimulating present…"

"Nails! What did you do? Tell me what you did!"

She made a smirk as she began to tell him.

Meanwhile, Shadow was in the conference room leaning against a table looking at a stack of papers he had held in his hands. While he looked at the papers, he reached over to a glass full of milk. He picked the glass off of the table and started to drink from the glass until Espio had flung the doors open in panic.

"Don't drink the milk!"

After hearing Espio's panicked voice shout out to him, he quickly spit the milk out from his mouth. While Espio ran over to him, he tried wiping away some of the milk from his mouth. "Espio? What the hell is going on?"

Espio saw the glass of milk Shadow held in his hand. "Did Nails give you that?"

He made a small an unsure nod. "Yeah?" He was then startled when Espio smacked the glass out of his hand.

"Don't drink that! Don't drink anything she gives you!"

"What? Why not?"

"She crushed up some kind of pills and put it in your drink to get you super horny!"

"Wha-what? Why would she do that?"

He bit his lip as he tried to avoid the real reason why she had done it. He nervously looked away from him. "Erm…I don't know. Cause she's a…bitch?"

Shadow could tell that he had known something. He crossed his arms and glared at the nervous chameleon. "You know something…"

"What? No way!"

"Tell me."

"Oh come on, Shad…"

"Tell me or I'll tell Tonya that embarrassing thing you did at the Christmas party last year."

"What? You're bluffing!"

"Try me."

He knew once Shadow had said he would do something, he usually would follow through and do it. He decided to go on and tell him the real reason why he was acting the way he was. "Okay! Okay!" He sighed heavily and braced himself because he knew once he had told him, he wouldn't be too happy about it. "Nails and I made a bet on which one of you guys would bang each other first." He flinched when he heard Shadow shout out to him in anger.

"Espio!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I can't believe what I'm hearing! You actually placed a bet on me and Rouge?"

"Oh come on, Shad! I was totally on your side! Nails thought you couldn't go through with it."

He turned away from him in anger. "Well, I'm just thrilled to know that everyone thinks our sex life is one big joke!"

"Hey! Don't get all mad! If it makes you feel any better, I honestly didn't think you two would make it this far." He made an uneasy look when he saw him turn back to him in anger, "You just only have a few more days…"

He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "Between me running low on patience and being sexually frustrated, you might not even make it to a few more days!"

The chameleon couldn't force himself to look away from his angered face. He tried to think of a way to calm him down and quick. "Whoa, Shad! Your stress, dude! You gotta watch your stress!"

He pulled him closer to him, "If you think I'm a dick on a regular, you haven't seen my temper when I'm not getting laid!"

The two were interrupted when Appex had suddenly came into the room.

"Yo, Shad!"

Shadow turned to the porcupine who was standing at the doorway. "Appex?"

Espio saw Shadow releasing him from his grip and took a step away from him. He knew regularly Shadow wouldn't get so fired up over something like this, but since he was under so much stress, it appeared that every single thing would set him off. He placed a hand to his chest and glanced over to the porcupine. "I love you, man."

In annoyance he glanced over to Espio and turned back at Appex. "What's up?"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but Margaret's here and she wants to talk to you."

Shadow gave Appex a shocked expression. Why was Margaret at the Chaotix and what did she want to talk about with him? "…What?"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Margaret: Something's wrong with Charmy…**

**Shadow: Yeah? No shit.**

**Margaret: Talk to him, Shadow. He listens to you…**

**Charmy: I don't have to do anything you tell me.**

**Shadow: Do you realize how much shit you're in right now? We're talking about prison!**

**Charmy: You're a real hypocrite, Shadow…**


	41. Chapter 41

**CHAPTER 41**

When Shadow had stepped into the lobby of the Chaotix, his eyes fell upon a green female crocodile who stood in front of the entrance doors. He studied her expression and she didn't seem happy or angry. She just seemed worried about something. He decided to walk over to see what she had wanted to talk to him about. "Margaret? What do I owe this lovely visit?"

Margaret crossed her arms and tried her best to put behind the grudges she had with him. "Shadow, we…need to talk."

He arched an eyebrow, "…Talk?" He had already found it strange that she would come out of the blue to actually make some kind of conversation with him. "About what?"

She bit her lip as she hesitated to begin to start talking about the sensitive subject. "…It's about Charmy."

Shadow's heart skipped a beat when she had mentioned the bee's name. "What about Charmy? Is he hurt or something?"

"Isn't he here?"

He shook his head, "He's been in all week but today's the first day, no one's seen him. I thought he just slept in or something."

"So he has been coming here then…" She had noticed that he still had the same confused expression on his face. "Have you been noticing how he's been acting?"

"…He's probably acting the same way at home just as he is here."

"…Distant?"

He made a nod, "And quiet. He barely socializes with any of us anymore. All he does is lock himself down in the garage all day."

"Shadow, something's wrong with Charmy…"

"I know. He's walking around like the world's ending."

She slowly shook her head, "Shadow, he's scaring me and I don't know what to do…"

His eyes widened when he saw tears beginning to swell in her eyes. Other than at Vector's funeral, this was one of the rare times he had seen her at the edge of tears. Something serious was going on with Charmy and now it appeared it was getting worse. "…Tell me what's going on at home."

She fought hard to hold back her tears as she began to explain. "He's barely at home anymore. He's always out and I think he's even been sneaking out late at night."

"Why is he going out so much?"

She shook her head, "I don't know. He won't tell me…but there's something else…"

He had then saw her taking a small white bottle out of her coat pocket. He watched as she handed it to him. He looked at the writing that was on the bottle until he came across the word 'oxycodone.'

"…You do know what that is right?"

He made a slow nod as he continued to observe the half empty bottle of pills. "…I'm more than familiar with it. It's oxy…" He looked away from the bottle and looked back at her. "What are you doing with this?"

"Charmy dropped it one day when he came home." Tears swelled back in her eyes as she remembered the day she had found the pills. "Drugs…Charmy is doing drugs, Shadow."

"Did you confront him about it?"

She made a small nod, "Yeah but he refuses to listen to me. He just ignores me and locks himself in his room or just goes out."

"When did you find the pills?"

"Just a few days ago."

He clenched the pill bottle in his hand tightly. "Margaret, do you not know how serious this is? This shit can kill him."

"I know. I should've came to you earlier but I was just trying to find different ways to talk to him."

They were then interrupted when they saw Charmy walking through the doors and into the lobby.

Charmy pretended that Margaret wasn't even there and turned to Shadow. "…Sorry I'm late."

Even Shadow could tell by the uncaring tone of his voice that he didn't sound very apologetic. He fixed his eyes onto him and tried to figure out if he was high or not. At the moment, he appeared to look somewhat normal. "…It's okay."

As soon as Charmy walked downstairs and into the garage, Margaret turned to Shadow in worry. "Did you see how he was acting?"

He made a small nod as he agreed with her. Even if he didn't look high, he was definitely acting stranger than usual. "Yeah…"

She clasped her hands together as she gave the hedgehog a sympathetic look. "Look Shadow, I know that we don't exactly see eye to eye but please…for once I'm begging you. Talk to Charmy. He listens to you…"

He gave her a weak nod and watched her leave out of the building. He remembered the things Charmy had said to him a while back and he wasn't quite sure if he could do no better trying to convince Charmy to listen to him than Margaret had.

As soon as Margaret had left the agency, Shadow had briefly told the other detectives what was going on and then immediately made his way down into the garage. He had spotted the bee working on a huge white plane while listening to hard rock music that filled the garage. Shadow had stood there at the doorway glaring at the bee who didn't seem to notice that he was also in the garage. "Charmy!" He yelled but no response. He didn't even look in his direction. "Charmy!" Again there was nothing. Agitated, he walked over to the stereo that was playing the loud music and unplugged the cord from the socket. Even after when the room was silent, he still yelled out his name. "Charmy!"

The bee dropped the tools he held to the floor and spun around to the seemingly angered hedgehog.

"I need you to come into my office now."

Just by hearing his sudden demands, he knew right then that it would be about whatever Margaret had discussed with him earlier.

When Charmy had met with Shadow in his office, he sat in a black leather chair that was across from the desk Shadow was sitting at. It was silent and awkward as the two stared each other down. Charmy had decided to break the silence between the two. "…Why did you call me in here?"

"So we can talk."

"…About what?" His eyes widened when he saw him set a familiar white pill bottle in the center of his desk.

Shadow saw Charmy's reaction when he had set down the pill bottle in front of him. "…You wanna tell me what that is?"

The bee looked away from the bottle and glared at the hedgehog. "You should already know what that is."

"So what were you doing with it?"

"They're mine. I take them."

"Really? Last time I checked, you weren't in any serious pain. You have no reason to be taking them."

"I do have my reasons…", he growled.

"…Do you have more on you?"

"You don't need to know", he had snapped.

Already he had gotten more angered with his attitude. "Take off your jacket", he demanded.

He hesitated because of his sudden demand. "…What?"

"Did I stutter? Take off your jacket and give me your backpack while your at it."

He once again hesitated from his demands. "…You're going to actually search through my stuff?"

Shadow noticed that he was hesitating to do what he asked and began to grow even more impatient with him. "Now, Charmy", he spoke in a louder and firm tone.

He then decided to do as he wanted and gave him his jacket and backpack.

When he handed his jacket over to him, he began to search through all the pockets.

Charmy bit his lip nervously as he saw Shadow take out several more pill bottles. Some bottle were filled with other pills besides oxycodone.

Shadow shook his head slightly in disappointment when he discovered that he had carried other pills. "Oh my fucking God…" He angrily threw down the jacket and began to search through his backpack.

Charmy watched him place expensive looking headphones, music players, and even tools on the top of his desk.

Shadow dropped his backpack to the floor and turned back to him. "…You stole all that stuff…didn't you?"

His eyes shifted away from his while he remained silent.

"Charmy, what the hell has gotten into you? You're stealing and popping pills? Do you not know how serious this is? Do you know how much shit you're in right now? We're talking about prison!"

His eyes wandered down onto the floor. "You don't think I know that?"

"Yeah? I bet you knew that you could fucking die from doing this shit too?" His eyes glanced down at the pill bottles that he had laying on his desk, "Oxy? Vicodin? Percocet? What the hell else are you doing?"

He slowly shook his head, "…Nothing. Just pills."

"Just pills? Then what? Coke? Meth? The list could go on."

He slowly looked back up at the furious hedgehog with a hateful look, "I guess you would know every single one of them huh, Shadow?"

His eyes were suddenly fixed onto the bee.

"You're so hilarious. Preaching to me about drugs. But then again, who else has better experience with them other than you?"

Shadow sat there in silence as he glared at him.

"You're such a hypocrite you know that? You put on this act that you're a changed man, but you're wrong. You're more dysfunctional than I am. I may be taking pills and stealing, but at least I'm not a depressed suicidal freak!"

He bit his lip and clenched the arm of his chair as Charmy continued to insult him. "…Charmy…" He called in a low and angered tone.

"You have so many problems. I don't even know how you figure you could run a detective agency. I can't believe everyone raised their hand and made you leader. You're not fit for it!" A small laugh escaped him, "I don't even know why Rouge even married you! You suck as a leader, a role model, and a husband!"

Now he was just infuriated. He had struck a nerve inside of him and he wanted him to stop speaking before he had done something that he would regret. "Charmy…" he growled.

"You're so pathetic! You can't even give her a child!" He flinched when he saw Shadow stand from his chair and slam his fist down onto the desk.

The vibration from him slamming his fist down had made a few of the things fall from the desk.

"That's enough!" He grabbed Charmy's jacket and tossed it at him along with his backpack. "Get the hell out", he growled.

While Charmy held his belongings in his hands, he paused and realized all of the hurtful things he had said to him. But he couldn't take it all back. Not now. If he didn't know at first, he now knew that Shadow had absolutely hated him. And that's exactly what he had wanted. He wanted him to despise him. It was the only way to remove him from his life it seemed. He spun around and left his office in a hurry.

After when Charmy had left his office, Shadow sat back down in his chair and rested his head on his hand on the surface of his desk. He sat there and wondered what else was there left to do?

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Tonya: He seemed so upset…**

**Ker: Aren't you going to go after him?**

**Ryder: Your boss knows about you having the pills…this is bad…**

**Charmy: He wants nothing to do with me anymore. I made sure of that…**

**Shadow: …Charmy…**

**Charmy: Stay away from me! I hate you!**


	42. Chapter 42

**CHAPTER 42**

Meanwhile out in the lobby, everyone watched as Charmy stormed out of the building.

Midnight arched an eyebrow in confusion. "What's wrong with him?"

Tonya saw the expression on his face before he had actually ran out. And it had looked like he was saddened by something. "He seemed so…upset."

Espio turned and saw Shadow slowly stepping out into the lobby. He studied the expression on his face and he had looked angered. "Shadow? What happened in there?"

"Yeah", Rouge added. "Charmy just shot out of here."

Shadow had tried to calm himself before he had began to explain to the group about what had happened between them. "That little bastard had the right idea to run out of here. I was seconds away from knocking the hell out of him."

Rouge noticed that he had seemed both angered and upset. "…What did he say?"

He didn't want to tell her or anyone else what he had said to him while they were both in the office together. He didn't even know if he could repeat the hurtful things he had said to him. He slowly shook his head, "…It's not important."

"But he just left and to who knows where." Ker turned to Shadow, "We need to go after him."

"Don't worry. We'll find him."

Tonya saw how Shadow didn't seem worried about where Charmy was going. "How are you so sure?"

Shadow had then took out a small black remote from the inside of his coat pocket. "When I gave him back his jacket, I placed a tracking device under the collar of it." He looked away from the remote and turned to the group. "He's associating with other people. That's how he's getting those pills. When I track him down, he'll lead me right to them."

When Espio saw Shadow about to leave, he started to follow him. "Hey, Shad! Let me come with you!"

Shadow didn't want anyone coming with him. He felt like he needed to go alone and handle things his way. He quickly spun around to turn to Espio. "No, I need to go alone. Just stay here and keep an eye on things."

He sighed heavily, "Fine." He and everyone else had watched as he walked out the door.

Later on, Charmy was telling Ryder, Spitfire, and Diego what had happened earlier on that day between him and Shadow.

While they talked, they all were standing in an alley in a more dangerous part of the city where not many people had hung around.

Diego had an amazed look on his face after when Charmy had got done telling what had happened. "That's insane, Charmy! No wonder you're all freaked out."

Ryder confronted the bee. "So your boss knows about the pills?"

The bee made a small nod, "Yeah but I didn't tell him anything else. Not you guys or the dealing."

Ryder placed a finger to his chin in worry. "This is still pretty bad. If his boss knows, he may try to follow you and try to stop us."

Charmy shook his head, "No. You don't have to worry about that. After all the things I said, I'm pretty sure he hates me." His eyes slowly wandered down to the ground, "He doesn't care about what happens to me…not anymore."

Spitfire made a wide smile in relief. "Well that case, screw him! It looks like you're officially hanging with us!"

Ryder placed a hand on Charmy's shoulder, "That's right. Who needs him or any of those detectives you call friends anyway? We're all the family you need now."

Charmy tried to force a smile until they all heard a male voice at the other end of the alley.

"You punks will never be his family."

They all froze and quickly spun around to a black and red hedgehog who stood at the end of the alley.

The hedgehog glared at the group, "So you're the pill heads?"

Spitfire whispered over to the nervous bee. "Uh, Charmy? Who is that guy?"

Charmy took a deep breath as his eyes focused on the hedgehog. "…That's my boss."

Ryder, Spitfire, and Diego's eyes widened at the sight of the hedgehog. They were intimated by him. He had looked like someone you didn't want to dare anger. Just by looking at his appearance, he seemed like a violent person. "That's your boss?"

Charmy noticed their panicked looks and tried to calm them down. "It's okay." He had then focused his attention back to Shadow. "How did you find me?"

"I used one of your own inventions and placed a tracking device on you", he had answered.

Charmy bit his lip and had wanted to blame himself for being so oblivious from not knowing that Shadow would do a thing like that. "…What do you want?"

He took a step forward to him, "To bring you home, Charmy. Everyone's worried sick about you. Even Margaret."

The bee remained silent and just glared at the hedgehog.

"Come on, Charmy. Do you even see yourself? You're hanging around one of the worst parts of the city, stealing, on drugs, and hanging out with juveniles. This isn't you…"

"…I thought you hated me?"

He figured from how he had acted earlier towards him, that Charmy thought he had hated him. He sighed heavily and slowly shook his head, "…I don't hate you, Charmy. I'm just worried about you. I want you to come home to your real family."

Tears suddenly started to swell in his eyes, "I had a real family…remember Vector?"

Shadow was taken by surprise that he had brought up Vector's name. "…Of course I do."

The bee had clenched his fists tightly. "You wanna know why I'm acting like this? Because it's your fault. It's all your fault…" He spoke in a weak voice.

"…What?" He spoke blankly. "…Me?"

"Vector was the closest person I had to a real father and because of you, he's gone!" A tear had streamed down his cheek.

"Charmy, I…"

"You acted so reckless! You had the power to stop everything but you didn't do anything! You just stood there and watched it happen!" More tears had ran down his cheeks. "You didn't stop it…you did nothing!" He shouted while sobbing.

As he watched Charmy break down in front of him, he couldn't help but to feel guilty over Vector's death all over again.

Ryder, Spitfire, and Diego gave each other surprised looks while Charmy yelled at Shadow.

"You cause so much pain to everyone you get close to! So please! Stay away from me and leave me alone!"

When he saw Charmy about to leave with the group of teen boys, he had attempted to go after him. "Charmy, wait!" He was taken by surprise when Charmy picked a rock up from the ground and threw it in his direction. The rock had hit him hard at the side of his head. He kneeled down to the ground and held the side of his bleeding head in pain. While he held his throbbing head, he could hear more of Charmy's shouting.

"I said get away from me! I hate you! I fucking hate you!"

He tried to stand to his feet but the impact of the rock had made him feel dizzy. With blood dripping from his head, he continued to kneel down on the ground knowing that Charmy had walked off with the teenage boys.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Tonya: I haven't been acting like a good friend…**

**Tikal: Tonya…**

**Rouge: Why would Charmy do something like this to you?**

**Shadow: Because he…hates me…**


	43. Chapter 43

**CHAPTER 43**

Later on that night, freezing rain had poured from the dark sky with also the sound of distant thunder.

Tikal was over at Tonya's house in the guest room where she had usually slept in. She circled around the room gathering some clothes and other accessories and was placing them in a travel bag on the bed. She immediately stopped what she was doing when she heard a small fake cough coming from the doorway of the room. She turned and saw Tonya standing there looking like she had a lot on her mind. "Oh hey, Ton. I didn't see you there."

Tonya saw Tikal take her attention away from her and continued to pack her bag. Judging by the way she looked, she figured that she was still pretty upset with her. "Um, yeah. Espio said you were over getting the rest of your stuff."

The echidna made a small nod, "Yup just making sure I have everything."

Tonya sighed heavily before she decided to say what was exactly on her mind. "Tikal, can we talk for a moment?"

She made a small nod and sat down on the bed. She watched as Tonya walked over to her and sat down beside her. "What's up?"

Tonya focused her attention to her, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I said…about you and Nails."

Tikal was in shock that Tonya had suddenly started to apologize.

"When you said you were going to move in with Nails, I just instantly thought that everything was moving too fast. You fell in love with her so quickly and I just feared for you." She reached out and placed her hand on top of hers. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Tikal made a small smile. "Tonya, have you ever heard of love at first sight?"

She made a small nod.

"Well that's kind of how I felt when I first met Nails. I first looked at her and I could picture myself spending a good portion of my life being with her."

"And I'm so happy for you, sweetie. Someone like you really does deserve the absolute best." She made an uneasy smile, "When you told me you were moving in with her, I guess I was just surprised. Surprised that you finally found someone that will love and take care of you." She made a small laugh, "I guess I was just kind of babying you, but look at you now."

The smile on her face had widened.

"You're not a baby anymore."

She gave her a teasing smile, "Duh!"

"I'm sorry, Tikal. Can you forgive me for acting like such a jerk?"

She leaned over to her and pulled her into a hug, "Of course."

Tonya had returned the hug with a warm smile on her face. "Thanks, Tikal."

Tikal pulled away from her and held her hands. "Now just because I'm moving in with Nails, it doesn't mean I won't stop by from time to time to bug you."

She made a small giggle, "Sweetie, you can come bug me anytime."

The two once again pulled each other into a happy embrace.

Meanwhile, Shadow sat on his bed and stared out the window watching the rain pour from the sky and bright lightning lighting up the sky before hearing loud thunder afterwards. He sat there deep in thought as he recalled everything that had happened earlier that day.

Rouge stepped out of the bathroom and came into the bedroom with a roll of gauze in her hand. She was still wearing her work uniform while Shadow wore nothing but his black jeans. She sat beside him on the bed and noticed how sad and deep in thought he was. She bit her lip as she started to ask a seemingly ridiculous question. "…Does it still hurt?"

He placed his finger gently on the top of the bloody gauze that was wrapped around his head. "…Like hell."

She sighed and started to remove the gauze that was already around his head. "I just don't understand…what could've possessed that boy to throw a rock at you?"

His eyes wandered down to the floor and decided that this would be the best time to tell Rouge what was really going on between him and Charmy. "…Because he…hates me…"

Her eyes widened in disbelief and couldn't help but to make a small and hysterical laugh. "…Hates you? Charmy? Charmy Bee?"

He remained silent and felt Rouge taking off the bloody gauze that was around his head.

"That's impossible. Charmy had always been the one to look up to you. He loves and admires you. Kinda like…another father figure." She began to wrap the fresh gauze around his head.

"Heh, that's a joke."

She paused and then continued to bandaged him while she listened to him.

"According to him, I'm the one who killed his father."

"…Vector?"

He made a small nod.

"Oh my God…he's…he's blaming you for what happened to Vector?"

After when she had finished bandaging his head, he looked down to the floor in sadness. "He said it was my fault for what happened that day. Because of me, Vector is dead."

She noticed him getting more and more upset so she began to rub his back in comfort. "Sweetie, everyone knows that what happened that day was out of your control."

He looked up at her in frustration, "But it wasn't out of my control! He's right! I could've stopped it! I had the power to, but I didn't!"

"Shadow, stop it. You tried to do the right thing on behalf of Vector. And you shouldn't beat yourself up over it." She took her hands and made him face her. "Listen to me. Charmy is just…upset and angry. You know deep down that Charmy still loves you. He's just going through a tough time. What he's doing is just a cry for help."

"But he made it obvious he doesn't want me part of his life."

"Don't be ridiculous. He still loves you, Shadow. He needs you. Now more than ever."

"…He won't listen to me. If he gets caught by the police, there's nothing I can do. My hands are tied. I don't know what to do."

She gave him a comforting smile, "You will and when you do, you'll bring him home safe with us."

He made a small nod and slowly leaned close to her until his lips met her forehead.

After he took his lips from her forehead, she gently pressed her lips against his. She caressed her hands across his bare chest slowly.

He could tell that she had wanted him to deepen their kiss. He placed his hands on her waist while their tongues fought with each other inside their mouths.

She wrapped her arms around his neck until his body was set on top of hers. She let out a small moan when she felt his hands roughly grabbing her butt.

When he heard her moan, he quickly realized what was happening between the two. They were to make love right then and there on the bed. He slowly took his lips from hers and made a small chuckle. "Uh sorry. This no sex thing is hard."

She sighed heavily and rested her head down onto the bed with a sly look. "And just when we were getting to the good part. You're a tease."

"And you wonder why I'm sleeping on the sofa." He pressed his lips against hers one final time before taking his body off of hers.

She then saw him standing from the bed and walking over to the window. It didn't surprise her how quickly his moods had changed. Between work, the situation with Charmy, and what was going on between them two, she knew he was going through a lot of stress. She knew whenever he became overstressed, he always turned to her for sexual release. "You gonna be okay?"

He stared outside and watched the sharp lightning light up the night sky. Even when Charmy had said he hated him, he knew deep down that he didn't really mean that. He still cared about him deep down and Shadow wanted to know how he could help him. "…Wherever Charmy is, I just hope he's warm and safe."

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Ker: He hit you with a rock?**

**Shadow: I don't know what to do…**

**Margaret: We have to keep trying!**

**Charmy: I told you to stay away from me!**

**Shadow: You're going to listen to me like it or not!**

**Margaret: Shadow!**


	44. Chapter 44

**CHAPTER 44**

It was early the next morning at the Chaotix. Everyone was in the lobby listening to Shadow explain what had happened yesterday.

Ker gasped in shock while he stared at the white bandage that was wrapped around Shadow's head. "Charmy hit you with a rock?"

Tonya wouldn't think in a million years Charmy would attack Shadow. "That's so…out of character for him."

Espio placed a finger to his chin while he observed the bandage around Shadow's head. "You're lucky that blow to the head didn't give you a concussion."

Appex had made a small chuckle, "I always knew he had a pretty hard head."

The group of detectives glared at the porcupine.

Appex noticed their stares and made an uneasy look. "What? Too soon for jokes?"

Everyone had then heard the door open. They turned and saw Margaret walking through the door and approaching the desk Shadow was sitting at. She arched an eyebrow at the bandage that was around his head. "What the hell happened to you?"

Before Shadow could explain to her what had happened, Midnight spoke. "Charmy nailed him in the head with a rock."

"Yeah", Shadow spoke. "I found out that little shit has one hell of an arm on him."

Margaret placed her hands on her hips. "What the hell did you do to piss him off?"

He slowly shook his head, "Nothing. I just tried to talk to him."

"And?"

"He didn't listen to me…"

She began to worry all over again. Charmy wasn't listening to her or Shadow. She was beginning to think that everything was becoming hopeless. "Do you know where he is?"

"I placed a tracking device on him yesterday but now I'm sure he's found it." He knew he had found it since he did mention to him yesterday that there was one on him.

She bit her lip in worry. "So you don't know where he is?"

"Not exactly but I do know the area he's been hanging around. I'll have to search the entire district to find him."

Rouge figured he was going back to look for Charmy again but this time, she didn't want him going by himself. "Let me come with you."

"No", he spoke. "I don't need any of you to come along." His eyes wandered over to Margaret. "Margaret?"

She focused her attention to him.

"I need you to come with me."

The group of detectives shared surprised looks. They were all shocked that Shadow had wanted Margaret to come along with him to look for Charmy.

Margaret had pointed to herself. "Me?"

He made a small nod towards her, "You raised that boy for years alongside Vector. You are his guardian…you're practically his mother. It's important that you come with me."

She made a nod as she agreed with him. "I'll do it. I'll do anything to bring him back home."

"Then it's settled…" He stood up from his chair, "Let's go find him."

Later on that night, Charmy was alongside Ryder, Spitfire, and Diego. They were all standing in front of an old shut down convenient store using spray paint to vandalize outside the walls and windows.

When the can of spray paint was empty, Charmy had tossed the can onto the ground. He then saw Ryder walk over to him with a smile.

"Isn't this great, Charmy? I know you were kinda down in the dumps yesterday with what happened between you and your boss and all. But doesn't this make you feel a whole lot better?"

"Yeah!" Spitfire added. "It feels good to let out that aggression huh?"

The bee tried to form a smile, "Yeah it kinda does. Thanks, guys!"

They then all heard Diego call out to them.

"Hey, guys! Check this out!"

They all turned and saw Diego standing in front of a parked car that was across the street. They all ran across the street to meet up with him.

The red cheetah gazed upon the fancy and expensive looking black sports car that was parked on the side of the street. "Look at this beauty!"

"Heh, someone's loaded", Spitfire added.

Ryder formed a smirk, "Whoever they are, they sure picked the wrong spot to park their ride."

Spitfire turned to Ryder. "Should we take it for a joyride?"

The white parrot shook his head, "I have a better idea." He glanced around until he spotted a rusted metal pipe that was laying on the sidewalk. He picked it up and handed the pipe to Charmy.

Charmy held the pipe in his hands in confusion and looked up at Ryder.

"Trash it. You know you wanna."

Charmy just knew deep down that destroying the car would be extremely wrong. But he was angry at everything. He thought he had left the life he once knew and was starting a new one with Ryder and his gang. He clenched the pipe in his hands as he thought about the consequences, but this was the life he chose. He said goodbye to everything he had known. So what else did he have left to lose? He turned to the car and fixed his angry eyes upon it.

Meanwhile, Margaret was walking alongside Shadow around the dark and seemingly dangerous part of the city. She crossed her arms as she tried to warm himself from the freezing cold night air. She looked over to Shadow who had just finished smoking a cigarette. "Are you sure Charmy's hanging around this part of the city?"

He flicked the cigarette down onto the pavement and exhaled the last bit of smoke from his mouth. "I'm positive. This area is well known for street thugs and homeless people."

Her eyes wandered away from him and looked down to the ground. "I just don't understand. Why this? Charmy was always such a bright and smart boy. Why did he choose to go into this kind of life?"

He turned to her, "I didn't think that I would see this coming either, but there is an old saying…"

She took her eyes away from the ground and turned to him.

"The ones who are the most happiest are often the most saddest."

She thought about it and she figured the things he was saying had some truth to it. She mostly always knew Charmy for always laughing and smiling. It was rare when he had gotten depressed about anything. She had supposed it wouldn't be normal for anyone to be happy all of the time. "…Shadow?"

He turned to her and gave her his full attention.

She had then nervously took her eyes away from him, "Even though I think you're a fucking pain in the ass most of the time, I do appreciate the little things you do for Charmy."

He continued to listen to her as they walked together.

"The truth is I can't always be there for him and it hurts me so much because I always think of him as a son to me." She slowly looked back over to him, "But I've always found comfort knowing that you love and care for him enough to make sure he always had a clear mind and keeping him safe." She formed a small smile, "Don't think I'm going soft on you or anything but I'm glad Charmy has someone like you to look up to. And I know he appreciates you too."

Shadow paused and was shocked to hear such words coming from her. This was one of the few times Margaret had ever said anything nice to him. A small smile formed on his lips, "…Thank you."

The both of them stopped in their tracks when they heard male voices shouting and something being smashed.

Shadow started to look around to see if he caught sight of anything. "What's that?"

"It's probably some stupid kids vandalizing something", Margaret had spoke carelessly.

Shadow paused when she had mentioned that it was probably kids making the strange noises. "Kids?"

She made a small nod, "Yeah probably." She had then saw him about to follow the sound of the voices.

"Come on! We gotta check it out!"

Margaret followed behind him until she and him come across a group of teenage boys who were smashing a black car with bats and metal pipes.

Her eyes widened when she caught sight of a familiar bee who was joining alongside the group of boys. "Oh my God! Charmy!"

Once Shadow had caught sight of the bee, he ran over to the group of boys. "Hey! Stop it! Stop it right now!"

The group of boys immediately stopped what they were doing and dropped the pipes and bats to the ground. They spun around and turned to the hedgehog. They all began to panic at the sight of him.

"It's that hedgehog again!" Spitfire had shouted in panic.

Ryder spun around to Charmy. "Why does this fucker keep finding us, Charmy?"

"Yeah", Diego added. "I thought you got rid of that tracking device?"

Charmy turned to the group with his shoulders shrugged, "I-I don't know."

Margaret stood beside Shadow and stared at the bee in worry, "Charmy…"

The bee's eyes widened in shock that she was there alongside Shadow. "Margaret?"

Shadow glared at the three boys. "You little shits better scram or I'm calling the cops on all your asses!"

In panic, they did as he wanted and they all ran off.

Before Charmy could run off with them, he heard Shadow calling out to him.

"Don't you dare, Charmy! You're coming with us!"

He turned away from the hedgehog in annoyance, "You're nothing but a joke, Shadow."

When she saw him about to run off, she shouted out to him. "Charmy, please! Listen to Shadow! He just wants to help you!"

"Help me? Yeah right! He's done enough!"

Shadow had reached out and grabbed his wrist before he could run away from them. "Charmy, listen to me!"

The bee struggled to get out of his grip but he couldn't break free. "No! I told you to stay away from me! I don't want you near me!" He finally jerked his wrist out of his grip. He stood there and continued to yell at him. "Why can't you understand? You're a bastard! A selfish bastard!" He was silenced when Shadow suddenly sent a powerful slap to the side of his face. The hit was so hard, it knocked the helmet he wore off of his head.

Margaret's heart skipped a beat as she witnessed him hit Charmy. "Shadow!"

The bee held his burning red cheek and slowly turned back to the furious hedgehog.

It took a moment for him to calmly talk rather than yell at him. "…Would a selfish bastard do that?" He growled in a low tone.

A strike of fear had overcame him as he nervously confronted the hedgehog. "…You…hit me…"

"You're damn right I hit you! I'm sick of you not listening to what I or what anyone else has to say! Do you not understand? If no one cared about you, why would we be walking around half the city in the freezing cold to find you! I don't know if you've noticed but a lot of people love and care about you!"

Tears started to swell in his eyes, "But…why? I treated you and everyone else like total crap. I…I said I hated you. Why don't you hate me?"

"Don't you get it?" He kneeled down at the bee, "No matter what happens, I could never hate you, Charmy. We're a family and we will always love and look after each other."

A sniffle escaped him while he listened to Shadow.

"Besides, what would Vector say if he saw you like this? He'd kill me…" He spoke in a weak voice.

Just by hearing the tone of Shadow's voice, Margaret knew that he was practically on the edge of tears.

Even Charmy had saw tears swelling in the hedgehog's eyes.

"I'm responsible for you damn it. I couldn't forgive myself if something were to happen to you too." He tried to fight back his tears, "I don't care how much you try to push me away. Nothing will stop me from making sure you're safe."

A tear streamed down his cheek when he saw him beginning to cry. "…Shadow…" He was then pulled into a sudden hug by him.

He began to sob even more when Charmy had returned the hug. "I don't want to lose you too! I love you, Charmy!"

The bee began to break down while Shadow held him in his arms. "Shadow!" He cried, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Margaret's eyes swelled with tears as she saw the two hugging each other. "Oh, Vector", she spoke softly. "He's okay…your little boy's safe…with his family…"

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Rouge: It's so good to see you smiling so much, Shad.**

**Shadow: It just feels like everything is finally going right.**

**Nails: A surprise party for Charmy? I'm so excited!**

**Tonya: Rouge?**

**Rouge: I'm sorry but…I just don't want him seeing me like this…**


	45. Chapter 45

**CHAPTER 45**

A few weeks had passed and everything was slowly starting to go back to normal for everyone it had seemed.

It was early in the morning and Rouge was in the kitchen wearing her work uniform. She was beginning to get ready for another day of work at the detective agency. She leaned over on the kitchen counter and observed the small pregnancy test she had held in her hand. A disappointed look had overcame her face when her eyes caught sight of the one line that the test had showed. She sighed softly, "…Not again." Her heart raced when she heard Shadow's footsteps coming down the stairs. She didn't want to start off the day giving him depressing news. She quickly tossed the test into a nearby trash can. She had then tried to act like nothing special was going on.

When Shadow had came down the stairs, he came into the kitchen and caught sight of Rouge smiling at him. "Nice to see you up and early this morning."

"I could say the same for you", she spoke with the same smile on her face. She then saw him spin around and wrap his arms around her waist. She couldn't help but to softly giggle when he gently kissed her bare neck and shoulder. "You're in a good mood this morning."

He took his lips away from her neck. "What? I'm not allowed to be in a good mood?"

She couldn't help but to blush slightly as he held her in his arms. "Heh, I didn't say that."

He looked at her with a relaxed expression "I don't know. It just feels like everything is finally going right. Business is steady, there's been no hateful tension between anyone at work, and best of all…" He once again gently kissed her bare shoulder, "I get to have sex with my beautiful wife again."

She giggle as his lips traveled from her shoulder and to her neck. "Heh, you know we both cheated like two days early."

He arched an eyebrow towards her. "Look who's talking? You were the one who wanted me to start sleeping with you again."

"What? It was weird with you sleeping on the sofa! I just wanted some cuddles."

"Oh yeah right! It was a total trap!"

"No way!"

"You slept naked and kept grinding your butt against me!"

She giggled softly, "It was an honest accident."

"Yeah right!"

She began to burst out into laughter when he began to tickle her sides. "Shadow! Stop! I'm ticklish there!"

Despite her begging for him to stop, he continued to tickle her. "I know you are! That's what you get for seducing me!"

When he had started to stop tickling her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep and passionate kiss.

He held her body closer to his as the two shared the intimate kiss.

She slowly took her lips from his and gave him a silent and serious look.

He had noticed how she was looking at him and figured something was wrong. "…What?"

She slowly shook her head, "Nothing it's just…I love it when you're smiling like this."

Even he had to agree with her. Everything seemed to go so much more smoother whenever he was in a good mood. "What can I say? You make me feel ways I haven't felt in a long time."

She leaned her head close to his, "I love you, Shadow."

"I love you too, babe", he spoke softy before pressing his lips against hers once more.

She felt his hands slowly traveling down her body. She slightly quivered when his hand had caressed her inner bare thigh. She knew where things were leading up to and there simply wasn't enough time for them to fall into the heated moment. She gently pushed his body from hers. "Okay, you. Let's not get too carried away. We just got done making love like two hours ago."

He made a small smirk towards her, "Yeah two hours ago."

She stood there with her arms crossed giving him a teasing look.

He shrugged his shoulders. "What? We had to quit sex for almost two weeks! We gotta start making this up."

She softly giggly and kissed his cheek, "You're too much, baby. You know that?" She walked over to the chair that was at the table and took a black trench coat and a pink jacket off from it. "We gotta start heading to work. We wouldn't want the manager of the Chaotix to be late." She handed him the black coat and then began to put on her pink jacket.

After when he put on his coat, he walked over to the door and opened it. "Ladies first."

She formed a small smile, "Oh you're too kind." While she stood in the doorway she turned to him. "By the way, do you have any idea why Espio gave Nails fifty dollars the other day?"

He slightly shook his head in annoyance when he had stepped outside with her. "…Remind me to kill him and your sister."

Meanwhile at Nails' apartment, she and Tikal were in bed with each other. The two not too long ago had gotten done with an early morning session with each other.

Nails saw Tikal laying at the end of the bed looking up something on her laptop. She slowly made her way beside her and kissed her bare shoulder. "So what are you up to, cutie?"

Her eyes looked over to her and gave her a teasing smile, "You don't need to know."

Nails arched an eyebrow and gave her an interested look .

She giggled as she noticed the look she had given her. "It's a surprise!"

"Oh? A surprise? For me?"

Tikal bit her lip when she figured that she had already said too much to her. She figured she might as well just tell Nails what the surprise was about. "…Okay I'll tell you, but only, you, me, and the girls know. You can't tell anyone else."

"Fine I swear not to tell anyone. Just tell me already!" She spoke in an eager tone.

"Okay! Okay!" She giggled softly, "Well as you know, Charmy got accepted into that fancy school in Industrial City."

"Oh that's right! He's going to be leaving soon right?"

She made a nod, "Yup! So before he goes, Tonya thought it would be a good idea to throw him a little going away party."

Nails clasped her hands together in excitement. "That is exciting news! Oh Charmy will be so thrilled!"

She saw Nails slightly bouncing up and down on the bed. A small blush formed on her face as she couldn't help but to look at her breasts jiggling from her actions. "Now remember, Nails. This is supposed to be a surprise."'

She made a nod, "You got it! My lips are sealed!"

Tikal had made a seductive look. "Seal it with a kiss?"

"Now you're talking!" She leaned over to her and pressed her lips against hers.

Later on at the Chaotix in the lobby, Charmy was sitting on the surface of the desk telling Midnight, Ker, and Appex how excited he was about leaving for school.

Ker gave the bee a pleased look. "I'm so happy for you, Charmy!"

"You must be pretty stoked about this huh?" Midnight spoke with a smile.

"Yeah!" Charmy exclaimed, "You bet! I leave the end of the week! I'm so excited!"

Shadow and Espio stood next to each other and watched Charmy talking with the other detectives from across the room.

Espio smiled warmly at the sight, "It's so good to see that smile again."

Shadow made a nod as he agreed with him. "Yeah, it's good to know that he's decided to go and do something he loves."

"Better than him living on the streets and turning into a total junkie."

He crossed his arms and turned to him. "I told him if I caught him doing that dumb shit again, I'd knock his head clear off his shoulders."

"Sheesh! Aren't you Mr. Sensitive?" When he saw him beginning to walk off, he had followed behind him.

Meanwhile, Rouge was talking with Tonya in the break room. They were both sitting at a small round table drinking cups of water.

Rouge sadly looked down at the table. "I don't know anymore, Ton." She looked away from the table and turned to the purple cat who sat across from her. "We went the whole two weeks without sex and still nothing."

She arched an eyebrow. "Almost two weeks you mean?"

She made a small nod, "Well…yeah." She sighed heavily, "Maybe I'm just getting my hopes up for nothing. Maybe it's just time for me to face facts and realize that Shadow and I will never have a child of our own."

She remained silent and gave her a sympathetic look.

Tears began to swell in her eyes, "I'm not trying to blame him or try to get upset but…I just really wanted us to have a baby together."

"Uh oh!" Tonya stood up from her chair when she saw tears streaming from her face. "Oh, sweetie…" She stood next to her and hugged her in comfort, "It's going to be all right."

She tried to wipe away her tears while she softly sobbed. "I'm sorry to be bringing this all on you. I just didn't want him to see me like this."

She gently stroked her fingers through her hair while she hugged her. "It's okay, hun. Just let it all out."

With them not knowing, Shadow was standing outside of the room and had listened to everything that they had said.

**In The Next Chapter…**

**Charmy: I'm really gonna miss you guys!**

**Tonya: Um are you okay, Rouge?**

**Rouge: I'm fantastic!**

**Nails: This is hilarious! She's wasted!**

**Espio: Dude! Control your drunk wife!**

**Shadow: Knock it off, Rouge! You're making a scene!**

**Rouge: No! I'm mad at you!**


	46. Chapter 46

**CHAPTER 46**

Later on that night, Rouge was sitting on the sofa in the quiet living room of the house reading a book. She suddenly heard the door open and then close. She figured that Shadow had just gotten back after working a few hours later at the Chaotix. She took her eyes away from the pages of the book and turned to the hedgehog stepping into the room. "You're finally back?"

He made a small nod, "Yeah."

She noticed how he was acting and had thought that something must was on his mind. "…That's good." She closed the book she was reading and stood from the sofa. "I'm pretty tired. I'll see you upstairs." Before she could walk towards the stairs, he had called out to her.

"Rouge, can we talk for a minute?"

She suddenly began to get nervous. What could he possibly want to talk about? Whatever it was, she knew it wouldn't be good. She and him had walked over to the sofa and sat down with each other.

While he focused his attention on her, he gently held her hand. He sighed before he started to speak, "Rouge, I know you had your heart set on this baby thing but…"

Her heart raced. What made him want to suddenly bring up the subject of a baby? Could he have perhaps heard something from Tonya or maybe someone else?

"…I think we should stop focusing on having one."

Was her ears deceiving her? He was actually giving up on trying to make a family with her. Even though she herself was beginning to embrace the idea, it still hurt to know that Shadow had given up on it as well. She lightly bit her lip as she tried to not show any sad emotions to make the moment between them any more painful than it already was. She made a small nod, "…Yeah I think so too."

He could clearly see the hurt in her eyes and it hurt him to see her so heartbroken. "I'm sorry, hun. I just think this is best for the both of us."

She again made a small nod, "You're right." She felt his hand lightly caress hers.

"…Are you going to be okay?"

She tried to force a small smile to let him know that she wasn't as disappointed than she really was. "Of course. I'll be fine."

Even her fake smile didn't fool him. He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was not completely okay. He leaned over to her and hugged her.

The longer she had hugged him, the more she had wanted to break down and cry all over again. She pulled away from him before she really had began to cry. "…I'm going to bed."

He made a nod and watched her quickly stand from the sofa and practically rushed upstairs. He knew from her actions that she was trying to keep him from seeing her cry.

This was all hard for him as well, but even he had to realize that the two would probably never have a child of their own.

A few days had passed until finally it was the night of Charmy's going away party. All of the detectives and other friends of his were at the Chaotix to show their love and support for Charmy.

Everyone was out in the lobby drinking, dancing to music, and socializing with each other. They were dressed in formal wear.

Charmy was at the drink table drinking punch and talking with the other detectives.

Tikal had handed Charmy a gift bag. "Here, Charmy! This is from all of us!"

The shocked bee took the bag in excitement. "Aw! You guys! You got me something?"

Tonya made a warm smile, "Oh we decided to get you a little something."

When Charmy had opened the bag, he took out a pair of new goggles. An exited look had formed on his face. "New goggles? I love them!" He looked around at the group of detectives in happiness. "Thank you! For the party and everything! I love you guys!" He was startled when Rouge had suddenly hugged him.

The bat woman hugged the bee tightly while she appeared off balance. "We love you too, Charmy! We're gonna miss you, cutie!"

The detectives made an uneasy look as they witnessed Rouge's odd behavior.

Nails and Tikal knew from Rouge's actions and tone of her voice, that she was drunk.

Charmy nervously looked over to the drunken bat woman. "…Uh…Rouge?" He was scarred to even move because he didn't want her to fall along with him. "Are you okay?"

She laughed obnoxiously while she still hugged him. "I'm fantastic!"

He had then saw Espio pull her away from him.

Rouge practically fell onto the chameleon while she tried to keep her balance. "Good catch, Espio!" She shouted while laughing.

While he held her, he could definitely smell the reek off alcohol on her breath. "Yeah", he spoke in an annoyed tone. "You're definitely drunk."

She playfully smacked his shoulder. "Oh, Espio! I'm just having fun!"

"Yeah", he spoke bitterly. "Too much fun."

Tonya confronted the two and shifted her eyes over to Espio. "What's wrong with her?"

Espio held her by her wrist to make sure she didn't go off anywhere. "She's fucking drunk."

Tonya could barely believe that Rouge was acting the way she was. She knew that it would be on rare occasions that she would even catch her drunk. "Where's Shadow?"

Espio looked around until he spotted him standing in the far corner of the room talking with Margaret. "I see him."

"No! I'm mad at him!" Rouge had tried to walk off, but Espio had pulled her back.

"Of course you are", he spoke in a careless tone. "Let's go have a chat with him." He began to lead her over to the hedgehog.

With him leaning against the wall and a cup full of alcohol in his hand, Shadow was talking to Margaret who was standing in front of him.

Margaret took a sip from the cup she had in her hand and focused her attention to him. "You know I never got a chance to actually thank you for your help with Charmy. Without you, I don't know what would've happened to him…you're not that much of a pain in the ass if Charmy can put up with you."

"Wow you're actually being nice to me?" He spoke with a sly smile.

She formed a smirk, "Don't get too used to it."

He made a small smile until he had saw Rouge practically fall on him. "Rouge?"

She hugged the hedgehog while she giggled. "Hey, Shad baby! I missed you!"

Margaret's eyes widened as she witnessed how Rouge was acting. She knew right then and there she was completely intoxicated. She decided it was best to leave him alone with her. "Remember, hedgehog. Tomorrow morning."

He turned to her and nodded, "Got it."

When Rouge saw Margaret walk away, she turned back Shadow. "What was that about?"

"I told her I'd take Charmy to the airport tomorrow."

"Oh my God! Charmy's going somewhere? Where?"

Before he could reply to her, he turned to an annoyed chameleon who was standing in front of him.

"Shadow! Control your drunk wife!

He sighed heavily, "Sorry Es, you know she's not normally like this. She's just kinda depressed about the…um…" He began to spell it out so she couldn't fully understand what he was talking about, "B-A-B-Y."

Rouge leaned her head on his shoulder. "What? Stop speaking in rhymes and crap! You're confusing me!"

Espio gave him an uneasy look. "Dude, she's wasted."

"I know. I think I'll take her home."

"Okay good luck."

After when he saw him walk away, he took her by her hand. "Come on, Rouge. We're going home."

"What? Why?"

"Cause you're drunk."

She jerked her hand from his and angrily confronted him. "Well I wouldn't be drinking if it weren't for you!"

He made an uneasy look as he noticed her voice getting louder and everyone looking in their direction. "Rouge, lower the volume. You're starting to make a scene."

She pointed to herself. "What? I'm making a scene? I can't believe you're treating me like this! I thought you loved me!"

"What? I do love you!"

A calming smile had then appeared on her face. "Aw you do?" She leaned over to him and hugged him. "I love you too, Shad!"

He stood in the middle of the room hugging her with an uneasy look. "Oh my fucking God", he murmured. "You are tore up woman."

Tonya watched at how Rouge was acting towards Shadow and couldn't help but to chuckle. She turned to Espio who stood beside her. "I'm sorry, but this is funny. Usually Shadow's the drunk one. It's hilarious when their roles are reversed."

Even Espio had to agree that it was quite interesting to see Rouge drunk when Shadow wasn't.

Shadow pulled Rouge off of his body and attempted to escort her out. "Okay we're leaving." He once again felt Rouge break out of his grip. He turned to her in aggravation. "Rouge, you're drunk! We're going home!"

"God! You're acting like such a dick!" She yelled angrily. "Do you enjoy making me feel like crap?"

"Rouge!"

"No! I'm sick of this! I'm sick of you treating me like crap! And I'm sick of you not wanting to have a baby with me! And I'm sick of…" She paused as she suddenly began to feel nauseas.

Shadow had noticed her strange behavior and began to get concerned. "…Rouge?"

She held her stomach and suddenly bent over in front of him.

His eyes shot open as he felt a sudden rush of something wet all over his pants and shoes.

Everyone's mouths dropped as they all witnessed Rouge vomiting on Shadow.

He stood there like a statue as he felt way too disgusted to even move. "…Oh…my…fucking God!"

Rouge slowly rose her head up from the floor while still holding her stomach. "…I don't feel so well." She suddenly once again kneeled over and puked onto the floor.

Shadow wanted to burst out in anger after she had vomited on him again. "Yeah um no shit!" He took her by her arm. "We're leaving! Now!"

After when Shadow practically dragged Rouge out, Charmy turned to everyone's silent and shocked expressions. He formed an uneasy smile. "So…who wants cake?"

**In The Next Chapter…The last chapter!**

**Shadow: Vector would be proud…**

**Charmy: I appreciate everything you've done for me, Shadow…**

**Nails: Haha! You were tore up last night!**

**Rouge: Yeah right. I made a total ass of myself…**

**Nails: Um, Rouge? I think you should take a look at this…**


	47. Chapter 47

**CHAPTER 47**

It was early the next morning. It was the day that Charmy would finally leave for Industrial City. He was at the airport along with Shadow.

The two were standing within the crowded and busy airport.

After Shadow had helped set down some of Charmy's bags on the floor, Charmy turned to him with a smile. "You know you didn't have to do all this."

"I wanted to. This is a big deal here. You're going to be gone for like three years."

Charmy couldn't help but to feel suddenly saddened by the fact that he would be away from all of his friends and family for such a long time. He started to changed the subject before he ended up crying. "So how is Rouge doing?"

The hedgehog sighed as he remembered all of the embarrassing things Rouge had done that previous night while she was intoxicated. "Uh she's fine. She's back at home sleeping off her drunk."

Charmy couldn't help but to crack a smile as he remembered how ridiculous she had acted last night at the party.

Even he had to make a small smile as he remembered everything that had happened. "Sorry for that by the way."

"Heh, it's okay. She was just having fun."

"At least she had fun. I wasn't very thrilled with getting puked on. I was never that bad was I?"

The bee gave him a teasing look. "Well…" He had busted out into laughter before he could even begin to bring up an embarrassing moment when Shadow had been intoxicated. He had saw Shadow beginning to laugh a bit as well. After when they both had laughed together, he had noticed Shadow's sudden serious expression.

"You know?" He spoke, "It's not going to be the same without you around. We're all going to miss your smiles, your laughs…you always knew how to brighten everyone's day with that upbeat personality of yours."

"I'm not leaving forever you know?"

He made a small nod, "I know. You're just growing up so much. I'm proud of you…Vector would be proud of you." He then saw him taking the black helmet off his head and handing it to him. He held the helmet in his hands and gave him a confused look.

He stroked his fingers through his yellow and black hair to spike it up. "I'm not going to be needing that."

A warm smile formed on his lips when he saw him take out the new goggles that everyone had given him from the party last night.

He placed the goggles around his neck and made a wide smile towards him, "I'm no kid anymore." He pointed at himself, "See? I'm all grown up now."

He made a nod, "Yeah you sure are." He leaned over to him and pulled him into a hug.

Tears swelled in his eyes while he hugged him. "Thank you, Shadow. For everything you've done for me."

When he pulled away from him, he saw his eyes filled with tears. "Take care of yourself. And remember no drugs or I'll have to come over there and slap you around some more."

With a warm smile on his face, he picked his luggage off of the floor and began to walk away from him.

With a proud look on his face, he watched as Charmy left to catch his flight.

Meanwhile, Nails had came into Rouge's bedroom and saw that she was twisting and turning in bed. She figured she was awake so she had decided to call out to her. "Finally awake?"

With her head throbbing from her headache, she slowly lifted her head from her pillow and caught sight of the black bat woman in the room. "Nails?" She groaned, "What are you doing here?"

"Before Shadow left to take Charmy to the airport, he wanted me to make sure you were okay."

She lazily rested her head back onto her pillow and groaned. Her ears twitched as she heard Nails loud laughter.

"Still hung over huh? Bitch, you were tore up last night!"

In annoyance, she sat up from her bed and threw a pillow towards her. "Shut up! It's not that funny!"

With how she had weakly threw the pillow at her, she easily dodged it. She giggled as she walked into the bathroom. "Calm down will you? You were just having a little fun that's all."

When she watched her step into the bathroom and started to look at herself in the mirror, she rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Yeah right", she spoke in a low tone. "I made a total ass of myself."

While she looked at herself in the mirror, she started to fix her hair. "Tell me about it. Last night was fucking hilarious! I still can't believe you barfed all over Shadow!"

While she had her hand on her forehead, she slowly shook her head. "Please don't say barf…" She suddenly had that nauseating feeling all over again.

Nails watched as Rouge quickly got of bed and ran into the bathroom. She turned and saw her kneeling her head into the toilet and began to vomit. She turned away from her with a sly look on her face, "You must be going through one hell of a hangover." Her eyes wandered down to the counter until she suddenly caught sight of a pregnancy test. She made a disgusted look. "Ugh gross! Rouge, when did you start becoming such a slob?"

She slowly lifted her head away from the toilet and wiped some of the vomit from her chin. "Huh?"

"You're leaving your used prego tests everywhere!"

"…What? Oh I forgot! After when Shadow left earlier, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. That was the last one I had."

Nails slowly picked it up from the counter and glanced at it.

Rouge slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Even after Shadow and I agreed not to worry about the whole baby thing anymore, I just said fuck it and used it rather than just throwing it away. There's no point in buying anymore of those damn tests if nothing is going to happen anyway."

She called out to her without taking her eyes away from the test. "Um, Rouge? Did you even look at this?"

She shook her head slowly, "I used it, went to sleep, and forgot about it."

"…Well you should take a look at this."

She slowly stood from the floor and looked over Nails' shoulder to take a look at the test. Her eyes shot open while she stared at it in disbelief.

Nails' hand shook while she held the test and stared at the two lines it had showed. "…Holy crap!"

Before Rouge could say anything, she had suddenly felt sick all over again. She kneeled down in front of the toilet and started to vomit once again.

**Author's Note: Well there you have it! The story is officially finished! Thank you all for your wonderful comments and reviews! I really appreciate those of you who have been supporting me! And more good news, the sequel will be posted soon so keep your eyes open for it! Cya in the next story!**


End file.
